Wilfrid Almendra - Selected artworks

Wilfrid Almendra

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VLZ310, later (2019) sculpture in public space
aluminum, aluminum cast, stainless steel, steel, copper, bronze, brass, ribbed sheet, iron, glass
12 х 2 х 0,95 m Co-produced in the frames of Sariev + Markov Sculpture Projects and the artist residency of Wilfrid Almendra as part of the initiative, in collaboration with MOCO Montpellier Contemporain, with the support of the City of Montpellier in the frames of the exhibition "100 artistes dans la ville - ZAT 2019” from SERM / SA3M, Regional Council of the Association of Architects of Occitanie and the Occitanie-Méditerranée House of Architecture.
“VLZ310” refers to a lawn mower model, which in the early 2000s was carrying the promise of a new era of handling ability and precision to consumers dreaming of a "Home and Garden" style of suburban happiness. In 2004, this reference was borrowed by Wilfrid Almendra to title a sculpture condensing the essential elements of this neoliberal vision of the garden, in an object holding out hopes for social status. The perfectly sleek blue steps of a swimming pool stood alongside a sharp stone low wall, and a decorative pineapple, connecting the historical motifs of colonial Portuguese decors to the contemporary middle class.
Here again, “VLZ310, later (2019)” suggests a garden environment as well as the symbolic, psychological, and material implications encapsulated by our desires for dwelling. Looking like a gate, this sculpture however stands ambiguously in-between an appearance of safety, porosity and transparency, away from the realm of aqua gym sculpted bodies. Its serpentine lines, as well as the collage of mundane and precious materials and motives, recalls the aesthetic of community gardens, where new forms of being and belonging are collectively carved through alternative practices and imagination. Materials and shapes are connecting and reinventing themselves sensually, while the presence of an invisible, undressed body is revealed by a few pieces of work clothes negligently set down. “VLZ310” takes the viewers “later”, in these moments of transition from labor to work breaks, where desire is still very much at the heart of the systems producing values and classes. more photos here