Foot, Sweater, Digestive System Sculptures

Staring out at the horizon—it’s something we all instinctively do when we’re by the sea, as if waiting for something to appear in the distance, even though it rarely does. However, here, facing the main beach of Saint-Nazaire, something does catch your eye. Rising unexpectedly from the sand in the outer harbor are three strange sculptures: a giant foot, a sweater, and a digestive system. All grey, each up to seven meters tall, they partly vanish when the tide rolls in. Unveiled in 2021, these curious creations are part of the “Estuaire” collection, a contemporary art trail known as “Le Voyage à Nantes”. It’s a poetic name for a route that brings together around sixty modern artworks, spread out over 120 kilometers along both banks of the Loire—from Nantes and all the way to Saint-Nazaire.These three sculptures were intentionally made to blend with the sandy beach and the industrial port around them. They’re the work of Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel, two artists who met at the Nantes School of Fine Arts and have been working together since 1998. Their approach is deliberately unconventional, turning classical sculpture on its head with bold, subversive pieces that spark more questions than answers. And that’s exactly what they’ve done here. Among both visitors and locals, the reaction has been… mixed—but always intrigued. Bold, surreal, and completely unexpected, the sculptures challenge everyone who sees them to stop and wonder: why these shapes? And why here? A nearby plaque offers some explanations. The bare foot, flat between land and sea, recalls either a beachgoer’s footprint or a fragment of an ancient statue. The sweater, with its thick cable-knit texture but no body to fill it, reflects the universal need for clothing. And the digestive system—perhaps the most controversial of the three—is described as the “brain of emotions,” a symbol of our hidden inner world, the very core of our vitality. Like it or not, one thing’s for sure: this is art without boundaries—and it’s meant to make you feel something.