Saype, a French artist, invites viewers to appreciate nature in his latest enormous fresco created at the foot of Mont-Blanc. The artist is widely known for his colossal artwork, and his most recent piece, representing a toddler and an elderly person, is positioned more than 2,000 meters above sea level in the northwestern Italian area of Aosta.
“The idea is to build intergenerational bridges. The importance of building bridges between the elderly person — who for me represents wisdom, experience — and the youth which represents the future and is full of innocence, etc. I think there simply is a message of contemplating nature.” says Saype.
The roughly 2,500-square-meter black-and-white piece, titled “the immensity of Nature,” was made on the Italian side using a natural and eco-responsible blend of charcoal, chalk, and casein.
“I think that previous generations saw the mountain in a completely different way than we do, and future generations will see it even more differently than we do. So that’s for sure, but I think it makes it look a bit dull. So I think we really need to look to the future and towards positive things,” Saype added.
For the artist, “it’s a fast-changing yet fragile environment that we have a duty to respect. Its grandeur reminds us that nature is much greater than man”.
“What’s special about this piece is that I didn’t alter anything, we didn’t cut a blade of grass, we didn’t move a single stone. So I really came to set myself up in such a way as to move as little as possible from the environment around me. And then, of course, you have to deal with weather changes, rain, storms, fog and so on, but that’s part of my job, since I work outdoors.”
Saype, a former nurse turned “land artist,” began his career as a graffiti artist before becoming famous for his massive grass murals all around the world.