Caroline Andrin (Switzerland, 1972) is a renowned ceramic artist. She works with found/assembled objects and materials, transforming them according to context and location. When she visited Queens Brussels, she was immediately struck by the atypical interior, which became the starting point for the current exhibition. She was particularly inspired by the Egyptian frescoes lining the stairwell. The paintings come to life as objects. A lion, a gazelle, a snake and birds are all representations that evoke the forces and powers of ancient Egypt.
The Lion’s Auspices is an exhibition about metamorphosis. For the occasion, Caroline Andrin has created rhytons and trophies, objects that relate about the relationship between man and animal and raise the question of ritual. The rhytons reveal the animal side of the drinker, and evoke notions of strength and power.
A rhyton is a ritual cup used in many ancient cultures in the Middle East and elsewhere. They are generally in the shape of an animal, with an opening at the bottom through which one can drink. Scientists believe that the first cultural invention was a kind of container, designed to hold the food gathered, and then a kind of transport net. This very first container, a thing containing something else, would have been made by women gatherers using the fibres they found on the spot.
In the same way, the artist works with what she has on hand. To make the rhytons, she uses leather gloves, which she has been collecting for several years, as moulds. The objects obtained by casting in these flexible moulds are covered with terra sigillata in tones that reflect the colours of the different rooms in the house.
Charles Baudelaire in Le Spleen: “It is the drinking hour”. To escape the fate of those tormented slaves of Time, get drunk. Drink deep, never ceasing. Whether wine, poetry, or virtue, the choice is yours.”
