The work of French sculptor Quentin Garel occupies a space somewhere between natural history and mythology. Working across wood, bronze, and earthenware, Garel creates monumental animal forms whose anatomical precision recalls scientific study, even as their scale and symbolism push them into the realm of lore. Skulls, jaws, masks, and skeletal fragments appear reliably throughout his practice, reimagined as artifacts from an imagined civilization and appearing in major retrospectives across Europe.
The work of French sculptor Quentin Garel occupies a space somewhere between natural history and mythology. Working across wood, bronze, and earthenware, Garel creates monumental animal forms whose anatomical precision recalls scientific study, even as their scale and symbolism push them into the realm of lore. Skulls, jaws, masks, and skeletal fragments appear reliably throughout his practice, reimagined as artifacts from an imagined civilization and appearing in major retrospectives across Europe.
For the opening of Jacques Marie Mage’s new Wooster-New York gallery in Manhattan, Garel created a series of original wood sculptures responding to the spirit of the space—a 1920s-style interior envisioned by architect Jacques Garcia—and that of Yellowstone National Park. The centerpiece is a colossal wolf skull, measuring over four meters in height and weighing nearly half a ton, that functions as a threshold through which visitors ascend to the second floor. An eagle skull is suspended under a skylight, floating above the space with an aerodynamic elegance; a gargantuan buffalo skull anchors it with a totemic gravity. The sculptures transform the gallery into what Garel describes as a “cabinet of curiosities,” an imaginary museum of comparative anatomies that is equal parts fossil chamber and frontier hallucination.
The collaboration with JMM emerged following a meeting between Garel and Jérôme Mage two years ago at the artist’s Normandy studio, over conversations about wildlife and folklore in the American West. Staged as archaeological theater, Garel’s sculptures invite confrontation with this animal world and the enduring human impulse to mythologize it.
JMM: What initially excited you about the collaboration with Jérôme and JMM, and how did you start to think about the spirit of Yellowstone National Park as a reference?
QG: Two years ago, I met Jérôme in my workshop in Normandy. He wanted to create a showroom in New York in connection with Yellowstone National Park and in collaboration with architect Jacques Garcia. Jérôme imagined a place designed as a huge cabinet of retro-futuristic curiosities. The idea excited me a lot! So we imagined staging giant skulls of animals emblematic of the American West.
JMM: Why do you think anatomy, skeletons, and archaeological fragments remain such potent symbols across cultures and eras?
QG: The animal fascinates. It embodies the living in all its diversity. It is the result of millions of years of evolution. In this sense, it illustrates the incredible intelligence of life to adapt to all forms of constraints. The skeleton interests me particularly because it is the invisible structure that carries the living. Staging it as an archaeological theater raises questions about man’s relationship with the animal through the ages.
JMM: What symbolic importance does the wolf, in particular, hold for you?
QG: The figure of the wolf has nurtured myths and legends in many cultures since the dawn of time. As a symbol of freedom, power, and fertility, the wolf crystallizes many passions. The wolf appears to me today as the symbol of resistance to man's domination over nature.
JMM: How do you approach the relationship between scientific observation and imagination?
QG: My sculpture work is nourished by the observation of animal anatomy. Using a chainsaw as a pencil, I construct this gallery of portraits, sometimes taking the form of a mask, a skull, or a fragment of mandible. Even if these sculptures seem realistic, I often distort them according to my imagination.
JMM: How do the pieces work inside a JMM gallery as opposed to a traditional art gallery?
GQ: Sculpture is always in conversation with the space that surrounds it. This is all the more marked in public spaces. Inside an art gallery, the works are temporarily found in a neutral, empty space. The dialogue between the sculpture and the place that surrounds it is ephemeral, almost fictitious. In the JMM gallery, it's another story. The sculptures are installed for a long time, in a place inhabited by objects and furniture—a thoughtful architecture. The scenography is animated by the dialogue between all these decor elements. The sculptures are distinct actors among others. All this lends itself to telling a fantastic story.
WRITTEN BY Hannah Ongley
#ARTs