Ape's Art Cave

 Ape’s art is a combination of tableaus, he builds with corroded metal and Photographs and sculptures. Rich in texture and colors, they illustrate his personal mythology fed by his solitary years in the bush and his vivid imagination.

Traveler at heart, having spent most of his life on the road, Bernard Avantin is complex, secretive and full of surprise. He fancies calling himself an ape, probably because humanity isn’t meant for him.

Always changing, his path went from dirt red in the Australian outback to concrete and paved like the plant where he worked: “I walk never once imagining where it may take me”. Raised by French parents in Morocco, he left his home when he was 22 to go gem hunting in the vastness of the Australian outback, until he finally ended up switching his hiking boots for steel caps entering the contracting business in the city.

There is a purity in his sculptures and his images are extremely detailed with many intertwined stories captured in rust and minerals. They have a primitive, unruly, masculine feel that reflects his views on human or animal behaviors as well as his marvel and disappointments. The public are invited to go beyond the Illusion of simplicity. His art reveals more than what is firstly seen. They are charades and tales of a fantastic universe which turn out to be so close to our own. Layer of mystery are added, symbols, primitive stories…

There is a definite playfulness in his tableaux and sculptures. He is inviting the public into a guessing game full of humor and magic.

Beasts, fairies, demons and gods are hiding in all his photographs inviting your reason, your sight and your ability to escape from reality.