Arthur Rimbaud’s Inebriated boat

a sculpture by Bruce Krebs


versions :


I imagined a schooner’s hull on the sides of which
are evoked, in braille script, excerpts from Rimbaud’s text
and accompanied by bas-reliefs that illustrate the poem.




What does this poem say ?

A vessel, drawn by haloons, was «released» after an Indian attack... It joyfully joins the sea and the Inebriated of the great spaces wins him. « (...) And I have sometimes seen what man thought he saw !»
But, exhausted after so many years of racing at sea, he wishes to return soon to his native pontoon...





The boat "speaks" first person.
That is why this poem is also an allegory of the poet.
The figurehead represents Rimbaud himself
since this text evokes « the poet-ship »..

On the port side...

The poem begins as this:
As I descended from the immovable rivers,
I no longer felt guided by the heat :
Screaming Red-skins had targeted them,
Having nailed them naked to colored posts.


The barge haulers and the Indian attack...




Among the bas-reliefs, there are several images:
sealers, Indians, panthers, sea monsters, sea bream
schools of fish, snakes, swarms of birds, clouds,
pack ice, storms, seahorses, hippos, etc...

These frescoes are descriptive and narrative.
These images happily follow each other, despite everything,
the text that begins at the bow, expands to port,
the stern and ends on the starboard side.


The monsters "that men thought they saw"...

"... the panther with man’s skin..."



And I added a little cat playing with an octopus to the stern of the boat!






I made a little film of 2 minutes
















Dimensions :
Length: 150 cm , width: 60 cm, Height: 60 cm .




It’s on the occasion of the "Embellir Paris" contest for Place St Merry,
that I imagined this sculpture "for the blind". A sculpture on which texts
Braille would be mixed with many small bas-reliefs to touch and see.


Simulation 1


As part of this competition, this proposal was selected in the first phase
but was not retained in the second phase. Nevertheless...



Simulation 2


... this competition allowed me to explore an unexpected form of sculpture...
 




Do you want to go back tothe gallery ?




 

Bruce Krebs, sculptor
9 ter rue Amelot, 17 000 La Rochelle,
France, Europe.