Biography
French sculptor Julien Gudea is known for his three-dimensional reinventions of everyday objects like apples and airplanes, but the collection that caught our eye was Alumettes brûlées (“burnt matches”). He first began creating these giant matches in 2009, when they were installed as an outdoor exhibit in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris (seen above). Since then, Gudéa has created different ‘generations’ of his matches in different sizes, styles and colors.His most recent exhibition was a solo show at the Grail Cultural Center in Saint Raphael. Several incarnations of the alumettes brûlées, including 7-foot freestanding matches and a 64-piece wall relief collection were featured at the show, which ran from September to October of 2012. Like his apple core sculptures, Gudéa’s larger-than-life matches with their bright hues and exaggerated curves offer a new perspective on something we would ordinarily throw in the trash without a second thought.
