The Lion

Originally from Rouen, Vincente Blanchard settled in Mulhouse in 1991 after studying at the Paris School of Fine Arts.

Specializing in works intended for public spaces, she has several creations in Alsace, including some in Altkirch.

In Mulhouse, she is notably known for *La Jonque au Nouveau Bassin*, the first work of the local artistic promenade.

Here, the artist presents a sculpture that is part of an animal series, made using a unique process: assembling thousands of welded metal tubes. For the exhibited lion, Vincente Blanchard made about 24,000 weld points.

The tubes, galvanized at 700 degrees in a zinc bath, are then painted to reproduce the desired image tones.

This technique is inspired by a magical bead game her daughter used to play, but on a much larger scale.

The result is sculptures where the transparent tubes only reveal the outline of the work from a fixed point. Moving around, the shape comes to life and becomes solid, each tube acting as a pixel to compose a more or less sharp and colorful image depending on the viewing angle.