Papier Acier

Gilly Beal records marks discovered in places such as closed-up shop windows and crackling old painted surfaces – in cities and towns in the region from Sète to Uzès to Nimes. Geoff Levitus uses materials unearthed around his studio in Navacelles, previously an old farm building. The two artists’ respective works are in dialogue despite their differences due to this common use of the found.

In Geoff Levitus' sculptures, the remnants of these found objects, mostly of steel but also ceramics, glass and wood, are absorbed into the works, hinting at past histories of agriculture, building and the colonization and transformation of the landscape.

The issue of refugees and migration forced by political or environmental factors is a continuing narrative in his work, and hence the recurring boat form is pregnant with many possible meanings. However, despite the resemblance to that image, the artist makes it clear in his abstracted use of his materials, the invitation the works make to look at the rusted, pitted and textured surfaces, the twisted and bent metal, that this work can be read on many levels, each one personal to the viewer. This strategy of the seduction of the surface, which he also uses in the other parts of his practice, works to draw the viewer into each work and to peel away the layers of meaning.