Sculpture
Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent are a husband and wife team working out of Sebastopol, California. Amiot salvages discarded material, mainly metal, for the use and re-use in the assembly of semi-public art. Laurent paints the sculptures and provides the detailing that, according to the artists' website, brings them to life. The work of Amiot and Laurent can be too easily dismissed as lowbrow, when in fact, the underlying meaning and message of the sculptures is one that is socially conscious and politically profound.
Most of the Amiot and Laurent sculptures are figurative and representational. Although there are abstract elements in each of the compositions, they each depict either a fictitious or historical figure. For example, the sculptures on display in Sebastopol include one of Yankees legend Babe Ruth. Batman also makes an appearance in a Amiot and Laurant sculpture garden.
What makes the Amiot and Laurent sculpture garden remarkable is the fact that it is not housed in a formal museum or gallery; and yet the work is also not sponsored by the municipality or on display in a public park. Rather, private homes have on display the works of Amiot and Laurent, which points to a new vision of art as a communal enterprise.
The central political theme of Amiot and Laurent sculptures is sustainability. Using and re-using discarded materials are central...
Many of the materials used to create an Amiot and Laurent composition are salvaged from auto yards: hence the prevalent hubcaps and other heavy metal materials used in the sculptures.
For the most part, there are no direct connections between the actual materials used and the subject matter or theme of the compositions. Telephones find their way onto sculptures depicting waitresses carrying trays of food; oil drums become the body of Batman.
However, the nature of the materials used in the Amiot and Laurent sculptures -- what is essentially garbage-- begs the viewer to pay close attention to the former life of the parts. What is remarkable about Amiot and Laurent work is the way that theoretically and formally disparate objects find their way into the same unified composition. Although the materials used are circumstantial if not wholly arbitrary or haphazard, the finished product never appears disjointed. Each piece does come alive and has a playful spirit that belies the political message underneath.
Amiot and Laurent are accomplishing two main goals with their sculptures. The first goal is raising awareness about the role public art plays in the community. The second goal is promoting awareness of consumer culture. At no point do the Amiot and Laurent sculptures appear pedantic,…
