A local artist in Geneva faces the demolition of his unauthorized four-meter dragon sculpture carved from a dead tree in the Saint-Jean woods. The city has ordered the removal of the massive artwork by October 31st, threatening to cut it into pieces with chainsaws if the artist doesn't comply. Jacques Baume, the sculptor behind the controversial piece, has launched a petition that has already gathered seventy signatures to save his creation.
The impressive sculpture depicts a dragon locked in combat or embrace with an equally gigantic serpent, both carved from the stump of a dead beech tree. The artwork weighs several tons and has been standing since spring on a slope overlooking a forest trail near the Nant-Cayla school in the Saint-Jean district. Joggers and hikers passing through the area often catch sight of the dragon's glowing yellow eye gleaming through the foliage, creating an unexpected encounter with art in the middle of nature.
Jacques Baume, now retired, learned the basics of sculpture during a six-month stay in India when he was 28 years old. He never made it his profession, instead becoming an upholsterer and decorator, then later a computer science teacher when lack of contracts forced him to change careers. However, art has always played an important role in his life, whether through gouges and chisels, ballpoint pens, or paintbrushes - his portraits are particularly striking.
The artist began working in the Nant-Cayla woods at the end of 2024, initially transforming a beech stump into a woman's bust. Then in January, he began the transformation of the oak trunk into a dragon, working from dawn to dusk with gouges and chisels in what he describes as both physical and spiritual discipline. Every morning, the sculptor would roll his cart filled with tools and a thermos down the trail. "Coffee serves as my fuel and I gladly share it," he explains. "That's also what nourishes me: contact with walkers. People would stop and I would offer them a cup, we would chat." After four months of daily work, the trunk became a four-meter-long creature weighing several tons.
However, not all interactions with passersby were friendly, and Jacques Baume began questioning the legality of his project. In May, he wrote to Geneva's Parks and Green Spaces Service to submit a request for regularization. The response reached him in mid-August. "Beyond all official considerations and procedural defects, we want to acknowledge the quality and beauty of the artworks created," the email stated. "However, in accordance with the city's forest management principles, no sculptures or artistic installations are authorized in the forests."
The city's response continued that the artist must proceed with the evacuation of existing sculptures, including both the dragon-serpent and the bust. "Due to the impossibility of accessing the site with a motorized vehicle, these will have to be cut up on site so as not to damage the premises, particularly the tree heritage and soils. A collaborator from the Environment Department can help with this operation," the city stipulated.
Anna Vaucher, personal collaborator to administrative councilor Alfonso Gomez, who heads the Environment Department, detailed the reasons for this decision. "We cannot endorse the policy of fait accompli. This is private land and we do not issue permits for such artistic interventions because we have no desire to transform this wooded environment into an artistic zone," she explained. "Our will consists rather of returning nature to nature, especially since this perimeter is already under heavy pressure from the attendance of walkers and bathers."
Regarding the stumps used, Vaucher emphasized the great utility of dead wood in the ecosystem, which serves as habitat for wildlife. "This kind of intervention, however artistic it may be, causes the loss of this essential function," she noted. The city is not opposed to land art, but only in zones that lend themselves to it, and any artwork would first be subject to a competition. Additionally, these works, particularly the very voluptuous bust, can also disturb and bother visitors, and their place in a walking area is questionable.
Jacques Baume says he respects that not everyone shares the same artistic sensibility and acknowledges his error: "I did not seek prior authorization not out of defiance, but out of ignorance and naivety." The retiree plans to put away his tools for a while, stating that "the turn this story has taken affects me. I understand that there are rules, but I also believe that there are times when the law can align with humanity, emotion, and culture."
The artist maintains that his sculptures were born from a sincere desire: "to give a second life to this dead wood, to awaken gazes, to offer a little poetry and wonder to those who walk through the forest." Despite his good intentions, the city's environmental policies prioritize preserving the natural ecosystem over unauthorized artistic interventions, even those of acknowledged quality and beauty.
