For my coup de cœur (favourite piece) I chose Valentin Carron’s Kid and Dog (2021), a sculpture from a series of works in which dogs encounter babies, children and adults. Animals hold a special fascination for us humans. Humans have both idolised and ostracised animals, but animals have always been dialogue partners for humans, strongly influencing our imagination. One of the oldest testimonies of human culture are the Stone Age cave paintings. Here, too, the relationship between man and animal is central as this interaction is an important part of human life. Carron explores the origins of artistic representation and uses his sculptures to refer to the first forms of human cultural expression.

Looking at Carron’s sculpture, the first thing you notice is the somewhat childlike form, as if the work had been kneaded, only in a larger format. And indeed, the creation process begins in this manner. The production of Carron’s works often involves several steps. For example, the figures were first made from a block of modelling clay and then digitised using a 3D scanner. The data from the scan was then used to create a cast aluminium sculpture. The transformation from one material to another is at the centre of a fragile dynamic that runs through his work, moving between authenticity and artificiality, honesty and duplicity, modesty and pride. There is a vulnerability about this sculpture that moves me deeply.