The « Joueur de Planète»

Lavoux stone, 170 x 75 x 70 cm // (Scale 5.8; 1.65 tonnes)

““Le joueur de Planète” is a 5.8 scale stone reproduction of a clay creation I made in 2012. It represents a hand playing with our planet with the gesture of a handball player who seems to be asking himself: ‘And now, in the 21st century, are we going to throw it away or take care of it’.

The sculpture stands 2.30 metres high on an oak base. It was created with the help of invaluable technical and artistic partners. Sylvie Berry and Victorien Vergara on the sculpture, Jean-Marc Blanchard on the drawings and studies, Anthony Gaudier on the moulding, Tonio Moreira, David Marchegay, Dominique Hervé and Jean-Claude Lamberton on the logistics, all contributed to the creation of the work from conception to completion. Their support enabled me to achieve this tenuous 12 cm balance between the ball and the arm, a symbol of the fragility of the relationship between Earth and humanity.

The symbolism of this sculpture is multifaceted and reflects a number of urgent and vital contemporary issues. It is intended to stand up and challenge us in the face of the environmental disaster that is currently unfolding before our stunned eyes and bewildered consciences. According to the WWF, 70% of wildlife has disappeared in 40 years. Bees and earthworms are suffering genocide. The poles are melting. The climate is out of kilter. We’re worried, we’re talking about it in the media, but we’re not doing anything serious because we don’t want to upset the powerful people of an old world who are ‘profiting’, who are exploiting and using Gaîa as a playground. They must be stopped!

The creation of this sculpture was a collective undertaking to raise awareness of the accelerated degradation of our planet as a result of our greed. It also expresses the extreme care that each of us must take of our environment for the well-being of us all.

Find out more about participatory funding for this project (ProArty)