I met Aurèle while looking for my motorbike on the side of a dirt road, among the coconut trees in Goa, in the early morning of a day in February 1997.

In his house in 'South Anjuna', he introduced me to his work as an Artist, spoke to me about his commitment and his personal struggle giving him an appetite for life inspired by the philosopher Marcus Aurelius: 'Living every day as if it were the last, do not get agitated, do not sleep, do not pretend.

His artistic work fascinated me, like many others.

The concept of the lost dog as a symbol of the lost causes of our modern existence had resonated.

What about our humanity?

Is it in danger today?

More than eighteen months of social distancing, fear, distrust of others, teleworking, lack of connections and even isolation have forced us to draw on our interiority.

What makes us human is our relationship with others and not individuality.

What makes us human are our emotions, our laughter, our tears, our sharing.

Will our humanity be a lost cause of the emerging future?

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In his Parisian workshop transformed into 18bis Shala, used as a yoga practice space, Aurèle appears without a mask to present to us a "social sculpture" according to the concept of Joseph BEUYS.

"Lost Shala" is a social sculpture' seen as a therapeutic treatment for the ills of society, whose expression is a continuum of flow, energy and heat whose process, 'artistic praxis has resonance in the spheres political, social and human.

 

Gratitude to Aurèle, the artist who for almost 30 years has offered us a beautiful reflection on the evolution of our modernity.