What a wonderfull world

"Monumental sculpture composed of several elements, What a wonderful world (granite, steel, bronze, redwood, ceramic, volcanic stone), is a set of shapes and textures which invest a place capable of becoming a space of escape and reflection.
An oblong redwood shape is placed on a steel table, it evokes the shape of a seed, in a “generic” proposition. The choice to make this form in wood is not trivial, I wanted to include in this project a set of natural and manufactured materials which come, for many of them, except for the bronze, from the landscape. In addition, its dimensions indicate that the piece of wood is cut, rough-hewn, from an imposing, century-old tree. Its presence speaks of the plant and the material at the same time.
A bronze lion which walks in this space is the only figure which appears in my composition, it is a sort of apparition, a large lion which walks quietly, in this space, its paws 70 cm from the ground placed on small studs. His presence is unexpected, unreal; as this animal comes from another continent, it encourages the spectator to think of other lands, to see beyond the horizon, or to imagine himself elsewhere, himself displaced, or even in a “mental landscape”, the time of a look. (…)
The title What a wonderful world asks a question, and suggests thinking about our "world", about what we want; I also wanted to go beyond regional borders by bringing through this somewhat "metaphysical", mental and concrete garden a lion who walks in a space made up of shapes and textures which speaks of the earth and the plants."
Roland Cognet