Richard Nonas

Edge-stones, hameau de Vière, Mariaud

Richard Nonas was born in New York in 1936. A trained anthropologist and sculptor, he worked for more than ten years with various ethnic groups in Canada and Mexico before turning to artistic creation. He is interested in the relationship between humanity and nature, doubtlessly due to his experience as an anthropologist. His initial training gave him the means to understand and analyse a given geographical area, its history, its riches, etc. Thus, even if, through the use of raw materials, simple forms and repetitive motifs, his works appear to be close to the artistic movement known as minimalism, they are in fact much more complex and varied, because they have a highly sensitive dimension. Through his visual art, Richard Nonas aims to inhabit a place and to bring it to life. His thinking and its applications are closely related to a certain form of sensitivity to materials and, more widely again, they translate a physical and emotional relationship with the place.

In 2011, Richard Nonas created the work Edge-stones, which is installed in the hamlet of Vière, the former administrative centre of the commune [municipal district] of Mariaud.

In 2019, he installed Col of the second day between the two summits of Mount Cousson. Echoing this, the Gassendi Museum welcomes Col of the half-opened door in the heart of the landscape room….