Sans détours

Clouds move in, a storm breaks, and uprooted trees leave a hole in the landscape. Their disappearance makes room for a sculpture defined by the contours of hollow tree trunks. Standing in the waters of the Notre-Dame canal, the sculptures are in harmony with the elements of nature, blending into the landscape and transforming it to gently catch the viewer’s gaze.
The verb “to sculpt” comes from the Latin scalpere, which means to separate, to withdraw. In a word, to hollow out. Daniel Van de Velde takes the hole left by the tree and extends it into the trunk, paradoxically removing matter and creating a sculpture at the same time. Placed between Earth and sky, the sculpture made of sectioned tree trunks gives us a new point of reference. The light shines through the hollow trunks and alters the raw material. Our gaze becomes intuitive again. This uncontrived creation reconnects us with the Earth…

Born in 1964, French sculptor and poet Daniel Van de Velde lives and works in Vidauban (France). Through his sculpture, experimental poetry, and writing he is looking for the best way to respond to what he sees as a rout of time. Trees are his favorite medium. To turn them into sculptures, he cuts the trunks into segments and hollows them out. Van de Velde is a frequent artist in residence whose work is exhibited around the world (Brazil, England, and Japan).