French artist Saype, known worldwide for his monumental frescoes, unveiled his new work on Tuesday, designed at an altitude of 2,300 meters at the foot of Mont-Blanc to celebrate “the immensity of nature”.
The almost 2,500 square meter black and white work, christened “A Great Lady”, was made on the Italian side with a mixture of charcoal, chalk and casein, said to be natural and respectful of the environment.
Photo: AFP
It depicts two female figures from behind, “a grandmother and her granddaughter,” pointing to the horizon and the majestic surrounding mountains. The idea is to “talk about the passing on between generations and the importance of listening to what elders have done,” the 30-year-old artist told AFP.
“The mountain is changing very quickly, so I think we’ll never see it the way our ancestors saw it,” he adds, specifying that his comments are not “moralizing” but “poetic”.
Photo: AFP
Originally from the Belfort region of eastern France, Guillaume Legros, known as Saype, was a former male nurse turned ‘country artist’. He started his career with graffiti and then gained worldwide fame for his gigantic four corners of the planet paintings on grass.
One of the peculiarities of the Mont Blanc fresco is that it was created without touching a “blade of grass”, in contrast to earlier works in the mountains, where the artist worked with short grass, that of herds of cows and sheep according to his ideas was “prepared”.
“Here it was blueberry trees with rocks, quite steep and complicated terrain for me to work on,” he smiles. Last week’s thunderstorms also complicated his schedule.
Photo: AFP
The fresco should remain visible for about three weeks, after which it will naturally disappear under the influence of “chamois, ants, regrowing flowers…”.
It is currently clearly visible from the cable car in two sections that carries thousands of tourists every day from Courmayeur to Pointe Helbronner at 3,466 meters above sea level on Mont-Blanc, partners of the project.
“The nature here is beautiful. “This work will add even more beauty to what we have,” said Maria Lagazzi, spokeswoman for Skyway Monte Bianco. “In a world that’s spinning too fast, we want to get people to watch,” she adds.
After Mont Blanc, Saype plans to travel to Antioch in southeastern Turkey to take part in a project to help victims of February’s catastrophic earthquake. He is also working on a fresco project at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids.