Christian Astuguevielle, Totem sculpture in painted fabric, contemporary work

Christian Astuguevieille (born in 1946). Totem in painted fabric, France, contemporary creation. This striking totem, made of painted fabric, fits perfectly within the singular universe of Christian Astuguevieille, where the object becomes figure, sign, and ritual. The sculpture, with its slender proportions, combines a massively stylized anthropomorphic body with sculptural, almost totemic legs and an extremely long vertical column that stretches above the figure's head. The entire piece is covered with black and white graphic motifs, painted directly onto the fabric: geometric shapes, striations, arcs, ellipses, and repetitive signs that evoke a primitive script or an invented symbolic language. The fabric, stretched and hand-painted, gives the piece a texture that is both soft and raw, reminiscent of wrappings, ritual costumes, and the fetish objects dear to the artist. The contrast between the solid areas and the white symbols creates a visual vibration that animates the entire height of the totem. Halfway between sculpture, talisman, and imaginary figure, this work possesses a profoundly ritualistic and enigmatic presence: a vertical being, adorned with symbols, that seems to belong to a forgotten culture or an inner world. A powerful, rare piece, and entirely emblematic of Astuguevieille's material and graphic poetry.