Bernard Bezzina

Inauguration on June 3, 2023 in Monaco

 

The permanent installation of a set of three monumental sculptures by Bernard Bezzina will be carried out on June 3 on the new Mareterra extension by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.

 

It’s been a few years that a pharaonic project is underway in the Principality of Monaco. The city-state ventured to extend its surface area on sea by six hectares. Designed by architects Renzo Piano, Alexandre Giraldi, Denis Valode and landscape architect Michel Desvigne, the tip of this extension will be dominated by a set of three colossal sculptures by Bernard Bezzina. French artist born in 1956, his creations already punctuate the urban landscapes of Monaco. This nevertheless represents a turning point given the monumentality of the work: three bronze elements of 10, 12 and 15 meters high. As always, the artist has drawn on his past experiences to renew and adapt them here on a titanic scale.

From the series of Fragility sculptures, we find this aspect. But where the cedar woodwork has numerous peaks pointing in all directions, none of which are perfectly vertical, each of the three elements of Monaco constitutes a single huge peak erected vertically. Exit fragility in the Principality: this sculptural ensemble is an ode to power. Moreover, where the wooden composition was poetically enveloped in a glass dome, the bronze ensemble is proudly exhibited at the end of the extension and a few meters from the sea.

This exalted force is however not without asperities. Indeed, and this is a constant in the work of Bernard Bezzina, these columns have a composite aspect. Although they are made of bronze, it is easy to imagine them composed of many fragments of wood, like grandiose charred pyres. The resonances with the series of Torn Woods by the artist are obvious. We find these same uneven surfaces on which light can dance and show the infinite capacities of black. But where the Torn Woods are intended to be assigned to interior walls, the bronze columns are at the water's edge and hit by a faithful Mediterranean sun. In his daily race, he will exalt their colossal form and reveal their ever-changing color. Facing the sea like a figurehead, this monumental work manifests itself as stable, strong and changing.