Château du Rivau, Lémeré, France
Established near the Royal Fortress of Chinon, the Château du Rivau (15th century) under the leadership of Patricia Laigneau—the lady of the house and an art collector—is hosting an exhibition of contemporary artists on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci in Amboise, celebrated by the Centre-Val de Loire region.
L’OFFICIEL ART: As part of the “Viva Leonardo” homage paid by the Centre-Val de Loire region to Leonardo da Vinci for the 500th anniversary of his death, you have asked around thirty French artists to come show their work at the château du Rivau: how did this project emerge?
PATRICIA LAIGNEAU: 1519 is indeed symbolic of the artistic, cultural and scientific effervescence of the history of the Loire valley, with the death of Leonardo da Vinci. In the image of this era, rich in pictorial inventions and research, it seemed to me that the artists that I had selected had the audacity and capacity to prolong da Vinci’s questionings. The exhibition thus begins a dialogue, one full of astonishment and curiosity, between history and creation, the present and the future. Self-portraiture, history painting, Codex, machineries, still life, female portraiture, drapery, anatomy: the major themes of the work of Leonardo da Vinci are evoked and explored. It is a sort of mirror exhibition to da Vinci’s oeuvre and career. The Centre-Val de Loire region supported my project with enthusiasm and allowed me to commission six new works.
The works are clustered around nine themes: why this construction, and how did the artists make use of these notions?
The artists in the exhibition pursue da Vinci’s interrogations regarding the universe. There is an effort to create bridges between art and technique with Adel Abdessemed, Nicolas Darrot, Fabien Mérelle, Panamarenko; between the festive and the natural sciences with Antonella Bussanic, Jan Fabre, Changki Chung; between the blurry and the precise with Alessandra Capodacqua, all the while taking lessons from the Master in order to go beyond mere questions of identity, in a global vision of the universe. The reappropriation of Leonardoesque icons, and of those of the Quattrocento, by the artists of our time, also interrogates the state of the world through works that converse with each other. Pierre Ardouvin, Pascale Barret, Mariella Bettineschi, Delphine Balley, Laurent Grasso, Angel Leccia, Wolfe von Lenkiewicz, Urs Luthi, or Orlan, all question the entertainment that art can elicit. As for Giulia Andreani, Katia Bourdarel, Catherine Bret-Brownstone, Céline Cléron, Hélène Delprat, Christian Hidaka, Grégoire Laisné, Olivier Masmonteil, Jean-Luc Moerman, Laurent Perbos, Antoine Roegiers, Andres Serrano, Daniel Schlier, JeanLuc Verna, or Sun Xue, they take up these mythical images, directly inherited from da Vinci, stimulating an incessantly attentive curiosity, and drawing for their works on styles and techniques inherited from the past, all the while using the current mediums and techniques.
In addition to this exhibition, the Château du Rivau features some twenty works in its gardens, which are thus accessible to visitors to the estate and to the occupants of your guest rooms: what reactions have you had as to how this private collection has been perceived?
These works arouse surprise and wonder, in the tradition of medieval gardens with extraordinary sculptures or automata. The château houses a large number of works by contemporary French and international artists. The discovery of these collections contributes to the tradition of patronage linked to “the life of the château”. Our guests are thus in direct contact with the works of my personal collection; all of them share with me the emotion that certain works may have on them.
Château du Rivau, “Hommage à Léonard de Vinci”, till November 3, Lémeré, France.