Artists-sculptors

Who are we?

We are a brother and sister team who have been sculpting together for several years. Our artistic explorations, both individually and together, have been a passionate pursuit since childhood and sculpting a family tradition for more than a half century.

The complementarity we find in sculpting as a duo has enabled us to go beyond our own individual artistic enquiries. We don’t work side by side; we work together. The fusion of our artistic projects is based on respect, exchange and communication. We grew up in the midst of an abundant nature of lakes, waterfalls and forests—particularly fertile ground with which to create our imaginary worlds. At its core, our creative process is guided by a keen awareness of the beauty of nature, but also by the fragility of its ecosystems.

Our current work is basically the product of two premises: water is the source of all life and water is in peril. Our first series of sculptures, “Jardins des Élixirs” (“Gardens of Elixirs”) and “Dormeuses au Jardin” (“Women Sleeping in the Garden”), were hymns to biological solidarity, illustrations of the way in which every element contributing to the survival of a species is interrelated. In our recent work, the relationship between human beings and nature appears to have weakened, and the question of water and its imbalances guides a part of our work. At the same time, however, people express their eternal fascination with the aquatic element. Thus from our most recent series, “Alter Ego”, to our subsequent individual work, we strive to make visible the symbiotic relationship between water and life: the materia prima.

From a practical perspective, the creation of each work takes place in a climate of intellectual effervescence: a sketch is put to paper, clay is roughly shaped and remodelled in various forms, drawings and photographs of living models are studied, fragments of materials of all kinds are assembled to simulate pedestals, accessories and environments, previous studies are transformed, etc. Our studio literally becomes a melting pot in which mysterious transformative forces are at work. Our sculptures are created in a spirit of great flexibility on every level. From the armature of our little model to that of what will become the skeleton of the final work, there must be constant workability. The synthetic clay we use to shape and create our work provides this adaptability, because this material never dries. When the work is complete, the earth will still be living, sometimes revealing the imprint of our intermingled fingerprints. Finally, the models are taken to the foundry to be cast, either in bronze or aluminium. Other materials can also be used: wood, high-quality water-resistant plaster and various kinds of resin. We may decide to use new materials in the future, because exploring unusual materials and the techniques associated with them is stimulating; one might even say essential to the growth of our creativity.

Above all, our sculptures are not intended for passive observation. They are topics for reflection which are meant to be interactive, making use of the formal features of both realism and metaphor, encouraging viewers to participate in a dynamic enquiry into and, ultimately, a fully creative exchange with their own lives.