This chapter describes part 2 of Sans titre by Melanie Myers. It is two minutes long.

A confession: there was something left out of the description of Sans titre (Henry Moore, Reclining Figure et Vertebrae) in the previous chapter. And that’s because there is also something missing from Myers’ drawings: In the triptych, there are three white, irregular shapes – simply the papier mache base. Each one is different, with a point sticking upwards, or a curved bottom. It is a stark contrast to the forested area. The shapes are, in fact, the three components of renowned sculptor Henry Moore’s large bronze work, titled “Three-piece Sculpture: Vertebrae.” And indeed, they do look like the curved components of a spine, there but not there, in the forest. 

Below, in the shallows, there is another white shape, much larger: it is Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure. Myers has built the abstracted female form using papier mâché so that it pops out of the drawing. She appears draped over the arched branches that emerge from the water. The artist has also given her a skin, much different from the original bronze or even empty non-colour: green shimmering fish scales cover her entire body, even her head! It has not been drawn exactly on the form, however, but slightly shifted down and to the left, so that the unmarked papier mâché is still there, marking a slight movement or dissonance. 

Just like this shift, Myers has intentionally shifted the environment, the materials and labour, even dimension of the original sculptures, positioning them anew in this imagined landscape. How do you think this shifts their meaning? 

Go to the next chapter to hear Myers talk about her artwork.