Richard Baquié
1952 - 1996
Born in Marseille (), died in Marseille ().
Richard Baquié’s oeuvre is constituted from an assemblage of different elements: iron, words, photos, sounds, glass and motors. Using these aggregations, he makes machines allied to movement, transit and energy. Here, modes of transport are central: fragments of old airplanes, cars and trains are transformed into sculpture. These sculptures, it is true, no longer themselves move, but speed is evoked by the members of the public who walk by them. By combining objects with inscriptions, the artist seeks to take passing moments from everyday life and render them visible in a single sculptured image. In our world, means of transport are very important. Not only as a material given, but also as an object on which we can hang our memories. Travels, conversations, encounters – all this and more happens when we’re in vehicles. The texts on the sculptures also often refer to snatches of these conversations, from a departure, during the course of a trip or on taking leave from something or someone. They also evoke associations with the city, symbol of movement, passage, and a touch of melancholy. By adding words to the object a new context is created for it. The sculpture does not just present a zeitgeist or a fashion, but its own story that is bound to our collective memory. The font type of the inscriptions makes one think of old advertisements, a medium that again easily connects with personal remembrances.
