Sydney Houillier

Sydney Houillier was born in 1965 in Poitiers (FR)

What interests Sydney Houillier is the moment when the trace of a “cut-out” approaches life, takes shape, and when the design comes to fruition. His forms resemble “patterns” initially assembled, but which a couturier might already have intuited in volume, and to which he gives substance by inflating them with matter. The tool—be it pencil or fishing rod—that draws, seeks more than the materiality of the line; it seeks the “design” that presided over the form and sometimes becomes part of the piece itself (in à la pêche).

The theme of the hand recurs in his work, both as the primary instrument and as image. Thus begins the journey “in search of the sublime seam” of these fabric envelopes (a seam that connects the mind to its own constructions, or a suture expressing the continual artistic recomposition?). The fabric shapes swell, and the incorporated materials (polystyrene or plaster) reveal the forms in their playful fullness (love handles), reconstructing in negative the presence (house).

The shapes of the white sculptures (Alice, Méré), with their soft-to-the-touch surfaces and their disregard for scale representation, are inspired by bodily forms—sensual bodies, fingers as sources of pleasure—bodies at times sublimated but always present, the body as a “pleasure sack.”

The raised forms of the Totolos—a copious series of small sculptures meant to be hung like templates or lines of writing—bear this generic title, as not all could be individually named. The others, however, often carry titles tinged with diffuse or sometimes more explicit eroticism, such as Gloves, Dancer, Skirts, or Shuttle.

Sydney Houiller’s work is on display during the exhibition Denis Brun, Sydney Houillier, Stéphanie Majoral, Florent Mattei, Lionel Scoccimaro, Nano Valdès, 1999