Typhaine Le Monnier. Hochschule Trier. New Graduates 2015

Hochschule Trier, Idar Oberstein, Germany

Typhaine Le Monnier - the Venus Studies
My graduation work is composed of three different group of work, the Venus Studies, 3 in 1, and Untitled Series n°1 and n°2. The Venus study series 2015, is an illustration of an abstract Venus of Willendorf.  A fertility goddess reduced to her physical essentials, who's curvilinear shapes where the body seems to overflow with ripeness are examples of accumulative, burgeoning mounds. They are derived depictions from the curves of the female body that follow certain artistic conventions on the lines of schematization and stylization. It is represented roughly as -shaped, with two tapering terminals at the top “head,” and the bottom “legs,” with the widest points in the middle as the “hips and belly.” Certain parts of the human anatomy are exaggerated: abdomen, hips, breasts, thights, and vulva.  In contrast, other anatomical details are neglected or absent, especially the arms lozenge and feet. Inspired by this principle of emphasis and fragmentation I designed the Venus studies necklaces. They are marble figures which give emphasis to the detail of the female breast as a symbolic fragment of femininity. The marble schematized breasts demonstrate a certain geometrical severity. The objects combine depurate drawings together with the marble, in order to ironically refer to the ancient Greek statuary: an ideal, distant, cold perfection of the Greek female depiction. This abstract austerity is softened by the fleshy coloured biomorphic elastic band, given as a reference to women’s lingerie and intimate objects that reveal a tangible anachronism between the intimate and the functional device. These two units become one, presented simultaneously as austere and intimate by combining an abstract purity to a more organic expressivity.

The necklaces involve variations and repetition in order to create a sense of unity but also to demonstrate the natural diversity found within the many forms of the female body. This creates a dialogue between an abstraction from nature and an empathic identification with it. The wearer’s body becomes a crossroad between representations of intimacy and to some extent, a protest against a predominant vision towards women throughout art history and within the media. This aesthetic research aims to criticize a tendency for stereotypes and cultural influences yet it also introduces a new perception toward femininity by representing the dismantled body fragments, as an “object-body”, given as an answer to the “body-object”. By deconstructing the distant iconic ideal of the feminine body and disintegrating the symbol into a new portraying figure, I have connected it with a further accurate vision of a multiform female body.

By questioning ornament as a vector, the 3 in 1 series reflects a formal research on the poly faceted aspects of a jewel’s wear- ability.  Untitled n°1 and n°2 studies, present the stone as a structural element. The stone evolves toward the body with an economy of contact and a very light impact.  The necklace becomes almost a prosthetic device, bringing emphasis to the wearer’s awareness by creating an unperceivable connivance between the wearer and the object. An “infra -mince” relationship can be found where the body appropriates the stone. The cold stone becomes warm after an acclimatized dialogue with the skin and heightens the perception of the wearer through this sensorial expression of a body /object interaction.

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