Marine Julié's work “ revolves around different recurring notions such as those of the wild state and questions inherent in the history of origin. It also addresses the issue of borders and the links that exist between the animal, plant and human world, the visible and the invisible ”*.

For the showcase, the artist extracts the ornamental figure of the dolphin, strongly anchored in the popular imagination, omnipresent in all branches of the decorative arts. The extravagant decor is stripped of any utilitarian support. Isolated, oversized and duplicated, the ornament disappears in favor of the statuary.
Dolphins in ornamentation often go in pairs, their bodies waving intertwined, facing or leaning against each other. Here, duplication, frontality and a certain rigidity refer to a posture of intimidation, the work becoming warlike, an attribute of power, in turn vestige of a throne or a tank of attack.

Mixed with strangeness, the grotesque character is accentuated. Hydrocephalic creatures possess a sharp, straight smile. Equipped with scales, they take on a monstrous aspect, close to Leviathan. The volutes of the foliage, symmetrical, swelling and vertical, suggest a second mouth. These "doublivorous" chimeras seem then linked to the worship of devouring, summoning terrible Aztec goddesses and other pagan deities.

Beyond the references to ornament and the history of Western art, these polymorphic figures question the border between decorum and work of art, disturb and arouse the imagination. But perhaps they are there, like the masks affixed to the windows and doors of Parliament Square, only to ward off evil spirits so that they do not enter the house.

* Didier Arnaudet