What is this army that has invaded, since April 4, the fountain in the garden of the Palais Royal?
Recognizable by the hundreds of lappings and its bright color, it stands out in this usually peaceful park.
Thirty anthropomorphic sculptures, feet in the water, spit under the windows of the former apartments of Colette and Jean Cocteau.
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In 1991, as part of a public commission, the sculptor and visual artist Fabrice Hyber created the Homme de Bessines.
These green men, installed on the water network of this commune of Deux-Sèvres, are fountains projecting water through the nose, the ears, the chest, through the mouth, the genitals or even the eyes. .
Since then, little extraterrestrials have invaded French and foreign cities by the hundreds, with varying sizes and appearances.
Read alsoFabrice Hyber: “An artist must be cheeky!”
Initially scheduled for December 2021, the French artist was to set up his battalion in the Palais de Tokyo basin, but two weeks before the event, the project was stopped for security reasons.
So, for the character's thirtieth birthday, 30 Men from Bessines, 87 cm tall, were invited by the Center des Monuments Nationaux, to the fountain of the Palais Royal.
Once past the columns of Buren, much photographed by tourists, in the calm of the garden of the Royal Palace, we discover these bold Lilliputians wading in the basin.
Despite the rain, a dozen strollers sheltered by their hoods and umbrellas stop in front of this strange cohort.
“It's a kind of art brut, because you can clearly see that it has been molded
,” observes a young photographer machine-gunning the pool.
After having immortalized the columns of Buren, his curiosity guided him to the center of the garden and surprised: sculptures of a powerful green which stand out perfectly against the white of the fountain.
He is apparently waiting for better light to capture this contrast.
Between modernity and tradition
Sneakers on their feet, backpacks and a Marseille accent, the bad weather did not stop a sports teacher and her retired friend passing through Paris.
"We came on purpose to admire them because we had seen, while preparing for the trip, a photo on "unusual things in Paris".
It inspired us because we like everything that combines the old and the new,”
she explains.
A Breton family, on a trip to Paris, who had spotted the exhibition on Facebook, also appreciates this installation between
“street art and modern art”
.
Despite everything, the Marseille teacher has some reservations: “
I saw it bigger and I find that the mussels don't seem ''finished''.
We see the connections between the front and the back of the character.
So I can't say I'm disappointed but I'm not thrilled.
»
A resident of Strasbourg passing through for a vernissage was surprised to come across this brigade of water spitters.
Usually quite reluctant to mix styles, as with Buren's columns in
“in a setting which is already beautiful in itself”
, the pensioner, portable in one hand, umbrella in the other, appreciates the setting.
“I feel like the characters have grown out of water.
It's nice and it reminds me a bit of some trees with roots that come out in the shape of children.
»
A ray of sunshine pierces the clouds for a few moments and illuminates the garden.
Passers-by suddenly observe the green of the men irradiating the fountain.
A mother and her daughter from the Hautes-Pyrénées are not unhappy with their discovery.
"It's very nice, it catches the eye and this green blends well with the colors of spring."
Under the light, the tree foliage appears the same hue as the lime green troop.
"I wanted to revive the landscape that I saw as a child, before the damage of
intensive agriculture
"
, explains Fabrice Hyber.
Walkers smile when they discover the Men of Bessines.
“It's very amusing and it's particularly important in these moments, with the
war in Ukraine
, to be able to laugh
”, testifies a Luxembourger who stopped to photograph them.
"They are without embarrassment, natural, like the little bud that is born
," laughs Fabrice Hyber.
Two executive assistants walk in the garden on their lunch break especially to discover the army of Hyber.
"I looked for them in Bessines and I never found them so when I knew they were there, I came."
After long minutes of scrutinizing the pool, they finally exclaim
"we found the ''woman good man''!"
And yes, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Man of Bessines, Fabrice Hyber created his first
"
Woman-Man of Bessines
"
hidden among the battalion.
A step towards parity?
To continue to celebrate their anniversary, a hundred characters will impose themselves in three emblematic places in Lille, including Le Tripostal and the Hospice Comtesse.
Then, in October 2022, in Marfa in Texas, Mecca of contemporary art, the artist will install another man from Bessines, six meters high this time and carved in Vendée wood.
His green giant will take root.
Free open-air exhibition “The men of Bessines”, in the heart of the Palais Royal garden (8 rue Montpensier Paris 1er). Visible until May 31, 2022.