Conservation process of Michel Blazy's works - NMNM - Nouveau Musée National de Monaco

Michel Blazy
Collection de chaussures, 2014
Chaussures, plantes, terre, eau, structure en alliage métallique laqué et plastique, éclairage intégré
Collection NMNM, n°2019.1.1
Photo NMNM/Damien L’Herbon de Lussats

Arranged on the ground, vertebra after vertebra, Ver Dur represents a strange skeleton. As we get closer, it turns out to be made of dog cookies, in the shape of bones.
It could be the skeleton of a reptile, a beached monster, or as its title seems to indicate, an earthworm, paradoxically vertebrate. The title of the work also evokes the “verdures”, plant tapestries of the late Middle Ages. Invoking notions of landscape and still life, the work unfolds according to the exhibition space. While waiting for its next presentation, the cookies are kept in airtight bags to protect them from insects that could in turn feed on their substance.

The maple tree Sans titre, presented in the gardens of Villa Paloma, naturally follows the rhythm of the seasons. Each spring, when the branches are stripped of their leaves and the first buds appear, the new shoots are covered with gold leaf.

Sculptcure is composed of an accumulation of pressed orange peels. The continuous supply of fresh peels makes the evolution in progress perceptible.

Collection de chaussures is an ensemble of pairs of sneakers in which four varieties of plants have been planted. Each shoe contains at least one shrub, a witness to the passing of time. And it is to the benefit of the blossoming of the plants that the shoes degrade.

The work Peau de bête is activated for each exhibition : two layers of chocolate dessert cream are brushed on the surface of the work to compensate for its natural whitening. Also, the appearance of cracks requires the realization of consolidations.

The tablecloth covering Nature molle‘s table is bound to crack until it breaks. The water that was sprayed on thin layers of wallpaper glue when it was made is slowly evaporating. Its drying in progress follows the shrinkage of the fruits and vegetables which it supports and which underwent the same treatment. The dishes made of agar-agar shrink and turn yellow. It is renewed when the cups are reduced to the size of thimbles. The manufacturing processes are repeated. The gaps are widened. Time passes.

Conservation process of Michel Blazy’s works

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