Positif-négatif

Édouard Delieutraz (Geneva, 1945)
Collection : Fonds d'art contemporain de la Ville de Genève (FMAC)

On the banks of the Rhône, Positif-négatif was conceived in close dialogue with its environment, following a major transformation project that restructured the throughway that is the Quai du Seujet. Like Manuel Torres’s sculpture at the other end of the quay, it resulted from the very first competition organized by the city in 1975 for works designed in relation to a specific site, in the context of one of the district’s most extensive transformation projects. The various elements of the corten steel structure are spread along the pedestrian promenade. The cubic volumes seem to be sprouting from the ground or gradually sinking into it. Their abruptly halted movement seems to have been frozen by a natural disaster, a telluric cataclysm, maybe a volcanic eruption. Dug out and cut from sinuous forms, the hollowed-out masses look like rocks that have emerged from the depths of the earth, although their forms remain non-figurative. The patina of the corten steel further accentuates the mineral dimension of the sculpture, whose silhouette can be seen on the somber waves of the Rhône. Édouard Delieutraz, who is mainly engaged in sculpture, spent many years teaching at the École des arts décoratifs (school of applied arts) in Geneva. He has created several works of art in Geneva’s public space.
Article commissioned by P3Art
Notice: Séverine Fromaigeat, translation: Matthew Cunningham

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