The Jeu de l’Oie (Snakes and Ladders)

 

Here is the poster, some paintings and an explanation of my ideas.

- poster

 

- a goose

 

- water

 

- air

 

-fire

 

-earth

quality

special square (the Bridge: case n° 6)

And the 63 paintings of the Jeu de l’Oie

1. Overview

The Jeu de l’Oie – Snakes and Ladders – is ancient. It is a Christianised and popularised version of the Cretan Labyrinth. It is a one-way initiatory journey. In the 17^th century, it was used in monasteriesto teach novices: it could represent the Holy History, or the journey to sainthood or towards agnostics, it could be the path to conversion. So as not to play with dice, forbidden because Christ’s clothes had been shared after a game of dice, they would play with a twelve-sided toton

The rhythm of the squares is particular and specific. The 63 squares are divided along 6 series of 9 squares (... 7 and 3² being of course highly symbolic figures)

If we analyse roughly the Cretian myth, we can notice that, to get out of the world where our bestiality – the Minotaur - is shut in, there are only two solutions. Indeed, only two persons managed to get out of the Labyrinth: Theseus and Dedalus. Theseus escaped thanks to Ariadne’s thread, because she gave it to him out of love, so that he could mark his way (it is here symbolised by the metal at the bottom of each square). The thread will enable him to escape. The solution to the Labyrinth is Ariadne’s disinterested love for Theseus. As for Dedalus, with feathers collected from dead birds and beeswax, he patiently builds wings that will enable him to fly out. This symbolises the Elevation. Icarus stands for the sin of pride – like the Tower of Babel – because he wants to elevate himseilf towards God, but he will be punished by death when his wings melt because he got too close to the sun.

There are only two solutions to get beyond our bestiality: Love and Elevation.

This symbolic of love was embodied in the very door of the Layrinth, in the shape of a woman’s vulva. For real life to be effective, and for life to be, a man must enter, so that a new man – a newborn child – can get out, and the only feeling required here is love. The exhibition is therefore built on these premises.

2. Pictural solutions.
3. 1. The elements

The problem is not so much about representing, but seizing the essence of each element.

1/ Air

The air is abstract, immaterial and vertical, hence the bands of the frames, and the objects passing through it stand out on this background. The background must thus be abstract, light-coloured and light, feathery, so that the flying animals stand out. The painting is made of egg, and air-sensitive materials are pasted with glue and pigments while the animals are painted in China ink.

2/ The Earth

The Earth is concrete, stable, tangible. Its structure is therefore rectangular or square. The symbol of the Earth is the square (of the frame), the animals and other edibles come from the earth. It is symbolised by a horizontal coating, looking like earthenware, to give it an even stabler aspect.

3/ Fire

It takes up the whole space, and after it raged through a place, only three colours subsist: red, for fusion, white, for the ashes and the metal, and black for the charred elements. It is usually symbolised by a triangle, and represented only through mythological or imaginary animals linked to fire, which occupy the whole painting, in black, red and white. And a vertical metal flake recalls the verticality of fire, and its capacity to transform metals.

4/ Water

Water is a crucial element. It comprises all potentialities: it is a sort of magma, a form of pre-ordered chaos. It is symbolised by the circle ?? of interwoven animals, plants and humans, cut off by the frame for water is much more than the frame. ??? Horizontal band at the bottom with the wave ?

2. The geese

I wanted them to be simple, beautiful and joyful, barely touched by my brush, as it is normal to be on the geese’s path. The decorative motifs are gold for the ganders, and silver for the female geese.

3. Special squares

I didn’t want to be overrepresentative for these squares – the one of death, of the prison inside one, the temptation of the inn... – because they are perceived differently according to each individual. I therefore chose a very abstract, graphic viewpoint. I also chose soberness when I chose not to use paintings, just gold and silver.

4. Qualities

I wanted to avoid didacticism, and find a plastic subject that would encompass diversity and the idea of the course of events. That’s whu I chose to represent the Circus. From the beginning of the show to the empty big top, via the Parade and the routines, everything is there: the strength, the balance, the will...

 

The exhibition was a success, that prevented it from the “tour” I had originally planned for it.

Mon e-mail : peltier@favolus.com

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