Kirili in Dialogue with

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Julia Kristeva

Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist

Alain Kirili & Julia Kristeva

Anthonin Artaud Exhibition, Moma NY, 1996

(photo©Ariane Lopez-Huici )

“ The first works of Kirili (which I had the chance of knowing from his sculptural beginnings) have constituted a fierce imposition of verticality. From the bases, minimal but solid, obstinate straight lines somewhat menaced and always tenacious, obliged us to straighten our spinal columns and to hoist up our thoughts. The space of galleries and museums that we believed we knew, suddenly opened themselves up towards the height, more proud, as if by the gesture of a blacksmith-calligrapher. In this way the rigidity of iron once made supple by the hammer, Its refined line, has cut through the air, tightened like a sound. ”

Julia Kristeva

excerpt from the text Alain Kirili : The Living Bodies of Statuary, published in the New Obversation, 1987

“ Les premiers Kirili (que j’ai eu la chance de connaitre à ses débuts de sculpteur) constituaient une imposition farouche de la verticalité. Des socles, minimaux mais solides, des droites obstinées quelque peu menacées et toujours tenaces, nous obligeaient à redresser la colonne vertébrale et à hisser nos pensées. L’espace des galeries et des musés que l’on croyait connaître, s’ouvrait subitement vers le haut, plus altier, comme par le gest d’un calligraphe forgeron. Car la rigidité du fer une fois assouplie par le marteau, sa ligne affinée découpait l’air qui retentit comme un son. ”

Julia Kristeva

extrait du texte Les corps vivants du statuaire , catalogue Kirili, galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris, 1985

Alain Kirili, studio installation , 1985

“ This intrusion of color into Kirili's sculpture is not only an aesthetic syncretism adding painting to sculpture. Addressing itself to the eye, color's clarity which is at once pure and aggressive invites the body to another pleasure, to a space already put in movement by the disposition of the pieces. It adds another dimension and a new acceleration. The visual chromatic seizes as in a profound archeology of archaic distinctions where before the hand might be capable of discerning forms to touch, the eye is overwhelmed by the already distinguishable sparks of a rainbow. The deep coating of pleasure superimposes itself on the joy of manipulating, of forming, of dominating the rebellious material which is iron. Blue with black (Palancia bleu), or black with red and white (Solares blanche), or yellow, white and red inserted in black (Belur 1985) achieving this other dimension of perceptive enjoyment in adding planes and disconnected chromatics to the form already worked by hammering, troubled with intrinsic movements.

Thus, these sculptures acquire a cinematic rotation--the spectator being invited, in short, to become the body and the eye of a movie camera in movement, x-raying the form of the composition in kaleidoscopic sections and layers. ”

Julia Kristeva

excerpt from the text Alain Kirili : The Living Bodies of Statuary, published in the New Obversation, 1987

“ Cette intrusion de la couleur dans la sculpture de Kirili n’est pas seulement un syncrétrisme esthétique ajoutant la peinture à la sculpture. S’adressant à l’œil, la clarté à la fois pure et agressive de la couleur invite le corps à un autre plaisir : à un espace déjà mis en mouvement par la disposition des pièces, elle adjoint une autre dimension et une nouvelle accélération. Le visuel chromatique nous saisit dans l’archéologie profonde des distinctions archaïques où, avant que la main soit apte à discerner les volumes au toucher, l’œil est ébloui par les étincelles déjà différenciables d’un arc en-ciel. La couche profonde du plaisir de voir se superpose donc à la joie de manipuler, de former, de dominer ce matériau rebelle qu’est le fer. Le bleu avec le noir (Palancia bleu), ou le noir avec le rouge et le blanc (Solares blanche), ou le jaune, blanc, rouge insérés dans le noir (BelurI, 1985) réalisent cette autre dimension de la jouissance perceptive en ajoutant plans et décrochages chromatiques au volume travaillé déjà par le martellement, agité de mouvements intrinsèques. Ainsi, ces sculptures acquièrent une rotation cinématographique, le spectateur étant invité, en définitive, à devenir le corps et l’oeil d’une caméra en mouvement radiographiant le volume de la composition en coupes et strates kaléidoscopiques. ”

Julia Kristeva

extrait du texte Les corps vivants du statuaire , catalogue Kirili, galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris, 1985

Alain Kirili, Palencia Bleu, 1985 & Alain Kirili, Solares Blanches, 1984

“Another direction of work presented includes painted plaster assemblies with pieces of forged iron and wood. These plasters extend Kirili's terra-cotta works (lvresse 1983, among others) and the series of painted plaster works, Nun(1984). Like Cordoba (1985) and Tendresse (1985), Méditation (1985) exposed today, integrates a molded plaster piece which could evoke by a leaning "head," by the movement of a drape, and by the interlaced arms of a little coiled body against the chest--a reply of the madonna.

This quasi-figurative post- modernism takes its entire meaning in the totality of the composition where the disengagements of the surfaces for which the sculptor has an affection and for which, without a doubt, a geometrical version of circular baroque instability adds itself to the assembly of different materials, plaster, iron, but also wood. For me, this technique brings a supplementary element to Kirili's sculptural syncretism, the timbre. I hear the sounds of diverse material of these pieces. The opaque tone of wood, the hollow deafness of plaster, and the sharp cry of iron. To the movement of my body is added the excitement of looking at the painted

plaster, and finally to my ear activated on diverse levels, bestows a melody of timbres to this dynamic Méditation. The incongruous bodies in association, the disparate pieces which take form in my movement around the sculpture, in my eye which follows the inclinations and colors, and in my ear, to finish, which unities these elements and makes them resonate, multiple and convergent, a Méditation in effect.”

Julia Kristeva

excerpt from the text Alain Kirili : The Living Bodies of Statuary, published in the New Obversation, 1987

“Une autre direction du travail présenté ici englobe des plâtres peints assemblés avec des pièces de fer forgé et de bois. Ces plâtres prolongent les terres cuites de Kirili (Ivresse 1983, entre autres) et la série de plâtres peints Nun (1984). Comme Cordoba (1985) et Tendresse (1985), Méditation (1985), exposée aujourd’hui, intègre un plâtre modelé et peint qui pourrait évoquer par la ‘tête’ penchée, par le mouvement du drapé et par le bras enlaçant un petit corps lové contre la poitrine, une réplique de la madone. Ce post-modernisme quasi-figuratif prend son sens entier dans la tonalité de la composition de l’instabilité circulaire baroque, s’ajoute l’assemblage de différents matériaux : plâtre, fer, mais aussi bois. Pour moi, cette technique apporte un élément supplémentaire au syncrétisme sculptural de Kirili : le timbre. J’entends le son de ces pièces aux matériaux hétérogènes : le ton opaque du bois, la surdité creuse du plâtre peint, et enfin, mon oreille, mobilisée sur divers registres, confère une mélodie de timbre à cette méditation toute dynamique. Des corps hétéroclites en gestation, des morceaux disparates qui prennent forme dans mon déplacement autour de la sculpture, dans mon œil qui suit les inclinaisons et les couleurs, et dans mon oreille, pour finir, qui unifie ces éléments et les fait résonner, multiples et convergents : une Méditation en effet.”

Julia Kristeva

extrait du texte Les corps vivants du statuaire , catalogue Kirili, galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris, 1985

from left to right : Ivresse I, 1983, Nun, 1984, Cordoba , 1985 by Alain Kirili

“ Grande nudité (1985) and Petite nudité (1985) represent this tendency. The body is not only unclothed, but stripped of its surface. He lets the lines of force of his desires and passions appear. The clay is touched a thousand times, worked, sensualized as much as possible, absorbing the violence and the malleable joy of the artist beyond what is representable. Then a moulding in clay is produced which culminates in the version in bronze which you have before you. A flayed nudity, living its passion of the flesh. ”

Julia Kristeva

excerpt from the text Alain Kirili : The Living Bodies of Statuary, published in the New Obversation, 1987

“Grande Nudité (1985) et Petite Nudité (1985) représentent cette tendance. Le corps est non seulement déshabillé, mais, dévêtu de sa surface, il laisse apparaître les lignes de force de ses pulsions, de ses passions. La terre est mille fois touchée, malaxée, sensualisée au possible, absorbant la violence et la joie plastique de l’artiste au delà du représentable. Puis un modelage en plâtre est produit, qui aboutira à la version en bronze que vous avez devant vous. Une nudité écorchée, vivant sa passion de chair.”

Julia Kristeva

extrait du texte Les corps vivants du statuaire , catalogue Kirili, galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris, 1985

Alain Kirili, Nudité (bronze), Fonderie Susse, 1984 & Alain Kirili, Grande Nudité I et II (plasters), 1985

“ It is understood that in revealing the intimate life of our bodies, the sculptures of Kirili belong to the history of sculpture. Recent history first: they carry on a dialogue with the works of Barnett Newman, of David Smith, Noguchi, De Suvero, Chamberlain… global history too: they take much inspiration from India, from the gardens and their balletic statuary in Kyoto or Nara, and also from the cathedrals of Burgundy, passing by Rodin, Picasso, and Giacometti…

However, his work concerns less influences than the selective assimilation of a memory of forms in the singular and autonomous experiment of post-modernism. which passes by abstraction in order to attain the imaginary meaning of forms. ”

Julia Kristeva

excerpt from the text Alain Kirili : The Living Bodies of Statuary, published in the New Obversation, 1987

“ Bien entendu, tout en révélant la vie intime de nos corps, les sculptures de Kirili appartiennent à l’histoire de la sculpture. Histoire récente d’abord : elles dialoguent avec les œuvres de Barnett Newman, de David Smith, Noguchi, De Suvero, Chamberlain... Histoire globale aussi : elles prennent telle inspiration en Inde, telle autre dans les jardins et leurs ballets statuaires à Kyoto ou Nara, et aussi dans les cathédrales de Bourgogne, en passant par Rodin, Picasso et Giacometti...

Cependant, il s’agit là moins d’influences que de l’assimilation sélective d’une mémoire des formes, dans l’expérience singulière et autonome d’un post- moderne, qui passe par l’abstraction pour atteindre le sens imaginaire des formes.”

Julia Kristeva

extrait du texte Les corps vivants du statuaire , catalogue Kirili, galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris, 1985

Alain Kirili and Philippe Sollers, Grande Nudité II, 1985, Musée Rodin, Paris, 1985

(photo © Ariane Lopez Huici )

Les corps vivants du statuaire

Préface de Julia Kristeva pour le catalogue Kirili, galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris, 1985

Alain Kirili, Grande Nudité I & II, 1985, installation at the French Embassy New York, 1988

(photo © Ariane Lopez Huici )

Alain Kirili : The Living Bodies Of Statuary

by Julia Kristeva

**published in New Observations 50 with Guest editor Alain Kirili , 1987**

Alain Kirili et Julia Kristeva in Paris, with Commandement-XI, 1997

(photo © Ariane Lopez-Huici )

The Imaginary Sense of Form

by Julia Kristeva

translated by Philip Barnard, published in Arts Magazine, 09/1991

We were in the midst of Gulf War. Our ears were glued to the radio, our eyes to CNN. Each of us was trying to imagine this new electronic theatre of so-called surgical death, to get a glimpse of the still improbable scene of a new world order. Death and resurrection, death or resurrection? As chance would have it, at the same time, Alain Kirili was exhibiting his Commandment XI in Paris: 18 elements of forged iron rising from a polished wood floor–tombstones or buds about to flower, cemetery or springtime, implacable mourning and the intense eruption of a promise of life. This mixture of Hebrew characters, Passion crosses, and phallic verticality summons my phantasms and then soothes them.

I do not think that sculpture consists OF pure space, a play of surfaces and volumes, a catastrophe of abstract intensities. It lends its geometry to our projections, body and soul. For, precisely, overwhelmed as it is by stresses and viruses, bombarded by images and missiles, given up to solitude, given up to solitude and the crowd, does the modern body still exist, has it not parted with its soul? Disseminated and fragmentary, yet endowed with a tender violence, a new body is being born in Kirili’s sculpture, one that signals to our intimate imaginary, and resonates with the tortures and joys for which we still have no words but nonetheless feel in dreaming. Kirili’s sculpture is contemporary because it is frankly oneiric. What does this mean?

Consider Méditerranée (1985), which brings together an entire series of the artist’s earlier procedures: rising parallel bars and the intervals that separate them, height creating new horizontal surfaces, a few touches of the biblical alphabet – a verticality at once grave and playful that seems inhabited by Indian lingams when it’s not referring to Burgundian Gothic statuary. But here an oblique surface appears, inverted and juxtaposed triangles colored an azure blue. As if Matisse’s paper cutouts were infiltrating the realm of volume, setting it in motion, summoning the eye even more than the touch, and thereby inviting a body, excited from the retina to the flesh, to plunge into the blue matter of a northern sea. Air and water, left and right, high and low, the locus and reference-point of an undulation restored to me by my revery, according to my own aggressive or peaceable rhythm.

Alain Kirili, Méditerranée, 1985

series of Meditation, by Alain Kirili, from 1985-1991

Méditation (1985) combines wood, plaster, and forged iron, perhaps evoking a Madonna suddenly lowered into an uncouth, austere urban space, her “head” leaning to one side, the movement of drapery, the arm surrounding a small body huddled against the breast. The heterogeneous and clashing materials resound with different timbres: I hear them more than I see them, and the libido they provoke soon involves all my senses in a series of jouissance, of complex pleasure now opaque, now soft, sharp, hot, porous, cold, condensed...

But still my dream has been of a body without flesh, of fibers and muscles under tension, twisting, chiseled, clenched tight and then relaxed. Grande nudité and Petite nudité (both 1985) abandon the serene assurance of the Greek body, which every modern artist from Giacometti to Barnett Newman, David Smith, Isawu Nogushi, Mark Di Suvero, and John Chamberlain has envied and decomposed. Here, under Kirili’s hand, an amorphous mass is at work, translating the secret dynamics of the artist himself, his drives flowing into an object that stands before me.

A series of forged-aluminium pieces culminates in Oratorio (1988). High temperatures crumble the metal, which flowers before my eyes, becomes powdery, melts, or, on the contrary, crystallizes. The violence of the gesture with which Kirili hammers his iron pieces or kneads those of clay or here transmuted into an exquisite finesse that presents me with a delicately perishable, ambiguous material, a mass at once rough and flower-like.

The series of Noces, which follow or accompanies the previous series in chronological terms, weds terra cotta to the ductility of metal wire: a nuptial crown, the misshapen wedding band of our untenable yet tenacious unions, an alliance of yin and yang, an amusing, inseparable heaviness and grace.

One notes, then, that Kirili’s work proceeds by series and repetitions: that its reprises give rise to spontaneous yet foreseeable variations that register the artist’s style, but also his biography and aesthetic evolution.

series of Noces, by Alain Kirili, 1988

The cement piece called Ariane Messagère des Dieux (1990) are thus a logical extension of this serial exploration of materials in which I read the projection of a body and its drives (un corps pulsionnel). Like a synthesis of terra cotta and aluminum, cement – a profane material if ever there were one- can be both modeled and carved, subjected to the hand as well as to the hammer and chisel. Somewhat surprisingly, it responds to carving with the same fidelity as marble. In this respect, I think of Le Corbusier and his chapel of Notre Dame de Ronchamp. And wasn’t the original of Picasso’s 1932 Tête de femme en chignon in cement as well? The plastic force of the Grande nudité is recalled here, muscular, pleasurable (jouissive), unshakable even when pierced by iron, as in Ariane absente (1990). But cement lends this violently beset yet placid volume a supplementary calmness and urbane indifference that was present in neither the terra cotta nor the plasters. Is it possible to make cement jouissant, to make cement give and take pleasure ? I see these cement pieces, shaped by hand, serious and funny, as resonances of the sidewalks and walls that surround us and that we nonetheless miss as we dash from subway to subway, from job to job. Could Kirili be the sculptor of the pressurized yet pleasure-taking (jouissif) body of the city dweller? An exile in the cement sidewalks of Tribeca who hasn’t forgotten the French 18th century and the voluptuousness of Rodin?

Emerging from funerary cults and haunted by eroticism, the immemorial art of sculpture seeks its place in the modern city. It lends its space to the most unsayable aspects of our corporeal experience, to the frontiers of dream, of pleasure, of speechlessness, and of death. The rudimentary materials and extraordinary assemblages that Kirili produces address themselves to our secret imaginaries for which modern life has provided no signs ! And which continues to preoccupy us internally while events continue to unfold outside: wars, markets, births, deaths. But ultimately where do the word’s events take place? On the television screen? Or in pneumatic spaces of our bodies, of our sensations, of our imaginaries which, in the final analysis, confer sense on everything that comes to be (qui advient) ?

Rudimentary materials, extraordinary assemblages. I gaze at Alain’s assemblages, I project my phantasms onto them, I lend existence to my passions. I imagine. And I also imagine that others are imagining. Out imaginaries meet or, on the contrary, flee from each other. Scattered and solitary, we try to establish a contact through this intimacy that everyday life is intended to destroy but without which there would nevertheless be no sensible time. Aluminum, terra cotta, plaster, cement: Kirili shapes the obscure sense of our bodies into form and matter before speech arrives to cast light on them. He gives the sacred a profane, robust, approachable existence. At the same time, informed as it is by the history of art and charged with words and myths, his apparent minimalism nourishes my senses and my associations. I love to sound out this moment when sculpture ceases to be a fetish object and unleashes my imagination as it integrates itself into my life.