Art Interlude

You will remember that I/we were quite taken with the work of one of the artists exhibiting at the show at Montauban.  At the same time we picked up a leaflet of another exhibition he was involved with and decided to make the effort to visit it.  So, yesterday was the day.

The exhibition was to the west of us out near Agen and this is an area we do not venture into much, so it was interesting to see how quickly we left our countryside of harsh hills covered with scrub Oaks and Junipers.  As we headed west, the land became rolling agricultural fields but with a good amount of tree cover.

When we arrived in the proximity of the show we found that we were in the Armagnac region; we found our artist was showing in a small renovated church (no longer sanctified) in the grounds of a chateau which is the site of an Armagnac producer.

Luckily, we were the only viewers there and so we were able to spend time talking to a very helpful lady volunteer who was looking after the show.  She explained that the artist, Michel Campistron, is a local man and he pops in to the display every few days, tinkering with his works, adding small elements or removing some if he thought that it was too 'busy'.

The church was bare and our 'guide' told us the Mr Campistron had wanted to show one particular work in a cemetery for a number of years, so the use of this church provided him with a close approximation of his needs.  Evidently, somewhat like Hockney at the recent show at the RA in London, Campistron went to the church and then produced new work to fill out the rest of the display area!

The works were large (which we like), predominantly white, and all contained the recurring motifs of a cross or crosses, nails, and feathers. Our guide told us that he is fixated with death (and perhaps conversely with life) but refused to explain what the works are about.  It's up to the viewer to draw conclusions from the works, and also the site, to see meaning in the pieces!