The forest occupies a major place in the work and life of contemporary artist Fabrice Hyber, born in 1961.

When he started planting a forest thirty years ago on land he bought with his first savings, it was not only a real innovation but also a step aside from a world of contemporary art, more urban than country. The idea of ​​planting a forest in Vendée (near La Rochelle) by sowing seeds in order to mix the essences, what an idea! Over 300,000 seeds were scattered. Today, the forest brings together sequoias, ash trees, acacias, chestnut trees, wild pear trees, oaks and many others, all born at different times, demonstrating daily why monoculture is a bad idea for humans who love to contemplate, understand and feel alive. People from the art world have come to immerse themselves in this forest and reconnect with its signs, its mysteries, its cycle, like a joyful, poetic approach to life.

“For me, the forest is a structure common to man and nature, it is the foundation of the city and of intelligence. The city is a copy of the forest. Thought too… nothing describes intelligence better than a tree structure. And even in a forest, there is mathematics!” says Hyber.

“Rosée” (Dew) is a work that Fabrice particularly likes. The painting was born from a seed placed in the center. Then for six months, the artist made it grow by allowing it to germinate, putting very little paint on it every day. Trees rise, then a world surrounds them. In the meantime, the tree in the middle of the frame has broken off to form a clearing, for light to enter. “I do biomimicry. I draw as the plants grow. I take a seed and I grow it every day. The seed for me is a question from which something is born.” For Hyber, this painting is like a metaphor, that of a world of relationships contained in a whole whose beauty springs up to the rhythm of its cycle of life and death.

Alice Audouin

Fabrice Hyber was selected and interviewed as part of a specific collaboration between Alice Audouin and the ONF, for the International Day of Forests 2021 (see here).

March 2021

Find all the articles from Impact Art News n°28 – Mars 2021

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