Johan Tahon, a Prayer In Plaster

In his studio in zwalm, johan tahon sculpts his own reality. In his quiet workshop and surrounded by white plaster statues, he converts a dark past into new life. The sculptures exude fear and impotence, yet at the same time they are so compelling they cannot be ignored. Every statue depicts a soul, the most intimate part of a person that you can share. 

In the documentary, sculptor johan tahon bares his soul to the viewer. For tahon, making statues is essential to his survival. He sets himself an arduous task: he wants to be the best at the hardest of all art forms. Every sculpture is the result of a long quest, until all doubt is eliminated. He invests all of his energy and attention into the statue, every touch is absorbed by it. The statues are cut up, dragged, bandaged and touched until they talk back. Until the statue comes alive. Thus every statue brings new life. 

After years of existing exclusively in tahon’s private universe, his sculptures were discovered by jan hoet. Not only did the discovery give the statues a new lease of life, it also uprooted the life of the artist himself.