"LA GRANDE COLONNE", 2010-2023
“La Colonne (De Zuil)” is a sculpture by Johan Creten. Representative of his artistic approach, its creation unfolds over a long period, marked by successive transformations. The work was first presented in a version made of marble powder and resin in the gardens of the Middelheimmuseum in Antwerp. It later gave rise to several bronze editions, some of which are partially gilded. In varying sizes, the largest version exceeds five meters in height.
“These grand columnar forms appear sheathed in the sinewy musculature and slimy skin of a giant octopus or squid. Tightly wrapped tentacles shroud the forms beneath, leaving us to guess precisely what is being strangled, if not yet quite devoured. Describing the legendary Kraken, a deep-sea creature that haunted sailors and inspired fantastic drawings and paintings in the nineteenth century, the great poet Alfred Tennyson wrote in 1830.
Like this excerpt from Tennyson’s poem, which brings on chills without actually de-scribing the beast physically, Creten’s monsters are most terrifying because they remain obscure. Though the forms and textures are highly evocative, these sculptures are basically abstract. Like Rodin’s Monument to Balzac, whose massive bronze cloak captures the writer’s essence more so than his precise physical likeness, Creten’s sculptures are built on multi-layered associations that twist and turn into final sculptures that are as evocative as they are enigmatic.”
Through “La Colonne (De Zuil)”, Johan Creten explores opposing forces. Between abstraction and figuration, the form, initially amorphous, gradually transforms into octopus-like tentacles. The sculpture thus operates through a series of shifts: from the softness of animal flesh to the hardness of bronze, from elasticity to stiffness, from suppleness to rigidity. These tensions, reinforced by the title of the work, can be interpreted as metaphors for masculine desire.
“La Colonne (De Zuil)” was first exhibited in Belgium, at the Middelheimmuseum in Antwerp, in its monumental white version as well as in a smaller, partially gilded edition. It was later shown in France, notably at the Domaine de la Garenne Lemot in Clisson and in Orléans, in the Parc Louis-Pasteur. Depending on the patinas and the settings in which it is placed, the work acquires new layers of meaning. Its whiteness sets it apart from the natural landscape, like a shaft of light emerging among the trees, while a green patina allows it, on the contrary, to blend into its surroundings. Gilded and placed at the center of the fountain in the French-style gardens of the Middelheimmuseum, La Colonne gains a precious, majestic presence.
Installed on a stone trough in Orléans, “La Colonne (De Zuil)” takes on an ambivalent dimension. The rough, unpolished back of the trough emphasizes the texture of natural rock, while its front face, originally intended for water flow, clearly evokes the essential source of life. At the same time, the very shape of the trough suggests that of a tomb, introducing an additional tension between vitality and disappearance.
