Opposition 2

More than the sculpture itself, it was the title that stopped me in the first instance because it could apply to all of Sophie Verger’s work. By resolutely taking the side of anthropomorphism the notion of opposition is present in its entirety - if we consider the long struggle of man for centuries to demonstrate his superiority over the «beast» and the various interpretations of deities through human beliefs. Beyond anthropomorphism there is also, often, the notion of games. With animal representations worthy of Pompon but going beyond a simple realistic look, Sophie sculpts poems, whole tales in one piece ... (Monsieur de La Fontaine would surely have liked his words to be used in the service of Sophie). She offers us both the subject of our childhood and a primitive reminder to the child who remains in us, to return to that essential of life after which we run, all of us, every day. She is a fairy who knows how to transform an emotion into an animal, a sensation, a feeling in a recollected memory. She also suggests to us with a lot of humor a lovable identification with the animal model and, beyond this observation the fact that in all her work, the child alone has its place with her, spontaneously capable of including the existence of the animal in her own fundamental values. I could have chosen to make a pure and somewhat harsh description of this little sculpted gem, but Sophie also plays with the pure reason of the look and here again lies the opposition of her interpretation. She shows here, by these two entities - child / adult - that one can ask the question of the reality of the game; is it real or a challenge, a revolt, a test of resistance, a comparison or a disagreement? So I can very well imagine that it is about the desire for the young to take the place of the old (out with the old, to the bottom of the ravine…...)! She leaves our interpretation intact. For my part, as a child what I thought was a game was unequivocal learning, what I took for difficulty was a test of ability, what was divergent to me was a way of thinking, what I advocated as a revolt was a means to question, what I referred to as a difference was a need for distinction, it was my dissonance that led me to find the right note. Finally…. all these oppositions were just a step towards learning to resist anything that would never be lived again through the indulgence of childhood. What mattered after all was to have unquestionable support in the face of the adult world because, if we conform to the herd at the expense of our own lives, we completely let go of the child that we are and we will never be whole. These are all the steps that I see in Sophie’s work, all these stories that make us grow, this need to constantly rediscover the time when naivety was protecting us and instinct was our guide, but also all this spontaneous joy, this humor and this tenderness which she sculpts in the details of the gesture. So, what else is there to say except thank you for allowing us, as adults, not to forget the child who remains within us, silent all too often, and to hold on to our basic humanity." Jö/ELLE juillet 2019