The Big Marble Soft Coral (four fangs)
Claudia Comte
Claudia Comte
The Big Marble Soft Coral (four fangs), 2020
White Carrara marble
400 x 74 x 90 cm
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
Photo: Gunnar Meier | Comte Studio
- Date
- 2021
- Medium
- White Carrara marble
- Dimension
- 400 x 64 x 90 cm
- Credit
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
- This artwork is part of the donation and long-term loan from TBA21 to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Details
Claudia Comte’s sculptures oscillate between the sensuality of organic forms and the coldness of carved marble, creating a tension between the living and the inanimate. In this work, the artist explores the relationship between matter, memory and ecology, restoring to the marble—which millennia ago was the seabed—the morphology of the coral that once inhabited its waters. Her practice stems from in-depth research into ocean ecosystems, viewing corals as intelligent and vulnerable organisms whose disappearance threatens the planet’s balance. This sculpture, at once monumental and delicate, celebrates life whilst warning of its fragility. Comte invites us to consider art as an act of symbolic regeneration: an attempt to repair, through form and beauty, the broken bond between humans and the living intelligence of the ocean.