Simon Augade‘s abstract installation pieces use furniture parts, doors, shutters, and other bits of reclaimed wood and nails. By using these found objects, he examines the ways which we use objects to define indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as making a statement on how people determine what is permanent and “concrete,” versus what is disposable.
In Place du Parlement (Parliament Square), Tour d’Ivoire (Ivory Tower) and Versus, Augade has created new, freestanding buildings out of these discarded parts. These creations have rough-edged doorways and windows, and they make you want to climb inside and examine the work from every angle. While they borrow from typical, geometric shapes used in architecture, they are slightly askew and whimsical.
In some of his other works, Augade has made an intricate lattice-like framework that is built upon existing structures. In an untitled work, the artist created a sculpture which flows out of a water drainage pipe, and is partly covered by the water at high tide. In Mutinerie (Mutiny), he builds upon a castle, and in Bureau de la direction (Executive Office) and Parasite Urbain (Urban Parasite) he brings this treatment to the inside of an office and to the outside on an industrial building.
