Published:
Esquire Art 2007 - 2010
The idea that, in the light of what has happened, a statue or a painting, or a piece of abstract sculpture, can no longer carry weight or actually matter, animate the work of Christian Boltanski. Boltanski seems to believe that there are enough objects in the world, and there is no point in making any more. He is haunted by death, by the death of each individual, by the death of aspects of ourselves – childhood, for example, and by the death of the idea that, in the absence of religion, science or reason will save us. His work is filled with palpable absences, a deep sense of grieving.