Chemin d'Art Sacré : Bernard LATUNER

God said to Noah: "I am your friend, and I am making a covenant with you and with all the people who come after you. I give you the whole earth. Learn to live in peace with one another". Genesis 7, 1-24

Bernard Latuner explores man's relationship with the animal world. He asks why man has betrayed the trust placed in him by God to care for animals and the earth. What has he done with the earth? And why did he become a carnivore? He denounces the materialism and consumer society that have led to this and to all this animal suffering.

The questions posed by Michel Quenot in his book L'animal, l'être humain et le Dieu-homme (published by Orthbruck) echo those of the artist. "What place and what role do human beings and the animal world have in Creation? What do we have in common with them? Who are they really, and what is their relationship to us? And what is our relationship with God? Animals invite us to take a closer look at our natural environment, ourselves, the meaning of creation and our vocation to clothe ourselves in the Spirit.

Noah remembers his covenant with God, materialised by the rainbow and the long journey in the ark, at the time of the flood, with all the pairs of animals to the distant land announced by the dove bearing the olive branch. The animals were saved by the righteous man Noah.

The artist proposes both an installation and paintings recalling Noah and his action in favour of the animals, in accordance with the request made to him by God. He also evokes the situation of Sélestat in winter, surrounded on all sides by water, in a nod to this episode in the Bible.