Serge Youriévitch sculpts the tastes of networks

About the 1933 Sacha Lyo Dancer sculpture that is a hit on Instagram

Who said that sculpture was no longer in the air? More in the tastes of a public whose relationship to the plastic arts has been shaped according to a different logic, preventing them from being interested in art frozen in 3D. Well, if we think that, we are completely wrong! For here is a sculpture by SergeYouriévitch entitled La Danseuse Sacha Lyo (The Dancer Sacha Lyo), which insanely collects likes on Instagram here and plays the omnipresent role of selfies there. Much to everyone's astonishment. But is there any chance of getting Generation Z to appreciate Renoir, Maillol or Brancusi?

                                                                                     
Let's start by looking at what might appeal to this young audience in this sculpture. The subject? The pose? The form? The treatment? We need to be a little more precise. For if not, the tidal wave that has brought Yuriyevich's Dancer to the forefront should also affect Degas' little rats, to take just one of the masters of sculpture that Serge Yuriyevich's work immediately evokes. Do his fans on social networks know of these 'originals' which L'Œil strangely does not point out could, just by appearing, relegate this Sasha Lyo to the rank of amiable plagiarism. And yet in just three years she has become a worldwide network star. Talk about the good guys and the bad guys," said Musset.

Yuriyevich would thus be a sub-Degas. People will certainly take offence at such a keyboard shortcut. But are we obliged to venerate avatars because the reference works are mostly forgotten? And first of all, who is this Degas? If he were that good, he would be more famous. CQFD. Besides, his Dancer is less good. Less athletic. The pose is less spectacular. And the model is too skinny. This guy was obviously advocating anorexia!  Let us remember in passing that Degas did not live in 2001 or in the 1930s like Yuriyevich. But that doesn't matter, because here is the killer question. Who was the model?

Could it be the storytelling that makes the difference today? It would seem so, because nothing else on a purely artistic level could make Serge Yuriyevich superior to his illustrious predecessor. But who was Sacha Lyo? Apart from a dancer capable of striking poses that still amaze a public ready to call any sculpture with a story art almost a century later. Like, for example, a virtuoso turn of M'Bappé in bronze, 10 metres high. And this, without necessarily knowing Abdel Abdessemed's Coup de boule, which fortunately has many more meanings than a simple representation of an athletic posture. The art of taking the exceptional in life for exceptional in art.

Illustration :
- SergeYuryevich - La danseuse Sacha-Lyo 1933