“L’arbre de Vie” by Sylvain Ristori
monumental sculpture at the Champ des Impossibles

Born in 1984, Sylvain Ristori settled in Ardèche. He studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Plzen and at the School of Art in Prague, at the Ecole Boulle in Paris, after a course at the Ecole de Condé and at the Fédération Compagnonnique des métiers du Bâtiment. He has an indispensable know-how in the construction of monumental projects and has confronted urban architecture, starting with projects in the Czech Republic. His work often associates color with volume and develops initially through collective projects.
Over time, personal sculptures are installed in natural spaces through residencies, participation in contemporary art festivals or by obtaining commissions.

As part of the Champ des Impossibles.03 and a residency, Sylvain Ristori created, fabricated and installed a monumental work (about 10 m high) in the sculpture garden of Moulin Blanchard (Perche-en-Nocé). This work, entitled “The Tree of Life”, was conceived from several acacias felled during a storm in a nearby field and recomposed with pieces of raw and manufactured wood.
“These pieces of wood, at first sight randomly arranged, form a kind of prosthesis around the solid wood. The work shows to what extent man directs nature, transforms it. Without necessarily implying that he denatures it: my purpose is not political, nor militant, but rather poetic, like a prayer that opens other perspectives. I seek to share something essential to bring back life where it had disappeared. At the same time, the way in which the pieces of wood I have carved are arranged and interact – in a sort of tangle – symbolically raises the question of the integration of each of us in our environment. My approach is to create bridges that will question the ephemeral and the eternal, the profound meaning of life in our daily actions.”

Sylvain Ristori’s work oscillates between the chaotic and the organized, between lyrical abstraction and geometric typography. His colors are dense and abundant, always in connection with the environment where the installation takes place. The realization of each piece is thus the fruit of a reflection as for its function in the space which is allotted to him and the interaction between all the elements at disposal.
Sylvain Ristori makes with what he finds, as if to prove that creation can be satisfied with little, as long as it proposes a healthy impulse of life, taking its source in the memory. At the same time, his most recent works, carved in solid wood, testify to the quest of this artist seeking to “sculpt the living”.

The “Champ des Impossibles”

From its epicenter, the Moulin Blanchard and the commune of Perche-en-Nocé, the Festival of the Champ des Impossibles radiates over 70 km of valleys, to present works in exceptional places.
17 sites, most of which are heritage sites, host exhibitions and provide the Southern Perche with a contemporary breath of fresh air, including a beautiful French representation, without forgetting the presentation of artists in residence and other authors residing in this territory rich in creators.
For its third edition, 26 artists are presented for the most part through a solo exhibition or an installation.
In 2022, the main theme of the Festival is the Tree. A unifying theme, it crosses humanity and is found in literature and art history. It is at the center of our environmental concerns, whether it is a subject, raw material, cosa mentale or at the heart of citizen debates, it underpins artistic approaches that respond by their diversity to the desire for openness of the general curator. Christine Ollier proposes through this framework a large panel of contemporary expressions by making resonate creation and exhibition place.