Samuel Verbiese

Statement

Besides expressionistic painting and sculpting of the figure and portrait, I am recurrently drawn to geometric projects, probably by previous experience in engineering. I remain deeply amazed by labyrinths, ever since Charles Fontaine kindly hint me to the Chartres design 10 years ago. My 'Mentor in Labyrinths' passed away after Bridges Enschede and his 100th Birthday, so feeling an orphan now, I am compelled to offer him here a last tribute, this time by presenting the labyrinth I detail in the conference and mowed as my 14th ephemeral path at 'Les Jardins d'Aywiers' (tx Patricia Limauge!). A most improbable result of serendipity, good luck and hard work, this 'µChartres labyrinth' exactly fits a bookbinding work by Ode Bertrand.

Artworks

While I payed Charles a last visit and handed him the Enschede Catalog, a caring neighbour said upon browsing : "Meet Gisèle De Meur !". GDM (artist name) math prof. at Brussels University organized a Math&Art expo, so I volunteered to bring her workshops 'à la Bridges' and while searching for works of participant Jo Delahaut as an inspiring theme, I found a bookbinding graphic by Ode Bertrand on display reminding a labyrinth. It graces a book by (mathematician) poet Raymond Queneau also in the exhibit. Trying a µChartres 'alla Bertrand', I ended up transforming the graph itself and could feature an extra central 'niche' for the Minotaur behind bars! Prof. GDM ultimately used Bertrand's work in the catalog as a graph theory example.