06-D pageBorn in 1949 in Paris, Denis Pondruel lives and works in Paris and in Friville (Picardy, France).

His sculptural works are cubic volumes presented with "doors" and "windows", yet are not classical constructions. Impenetrable thus, as the thoughts which they evoke, because behind the various openings, they always retain an unknown zone. Such concrete blocks invite the viewer to a place at the same time real and imaginary, on the border between the visible and the invisible. This is the paradox with which the artist is concerned, objectified by these small concrete cubes: everything and the opposite. It is a journey contrasted by the human being with whom we can be engaged through the visible uniformity of the small volumes proposed by Pondruel. 

Pondruel indefatigably investigates the relationship between thoughts and materials. Thoughts are instilled at the bottom of the dark volumes in the form of bright sentences. These words, chosen from various texts, confirm the interest of the sculptor in the workings of the spirit. They appear as fleeting thoughts, in the darkness of concrete blocks. He has a beautiful way of conveying our permeability to the world and the way it builds us. 

As those presented during the exhibition, Swimm, in July 2013 (Maritime Museum, Birgu), certain rooms also investigate this other way of representing the spiritual. They they allude to subterranean tanks or complex underground passages (just like Hal Saflieni's hypogeum).

This artist has received the kind support of PSA Insurance Ltd. for their Mdina Biennale project.


Mdina Biennale Venues