I consider myself primarily a sculptor; I am a sculptor who also enjoys painting.
I love working metal. Welding steel was my first art language. I like thick steel better than thin because I love stick-welding (for an explanation of stick-welding, click here).
I also like the weight (!) and the look of thick steel because it appears industrial and indestructible. I prefer it rusted and with a history: found, recycled, previously used either structurally (and hopefully, for my purpose, bent, crushed, cut in odd ways during the demolition process), or left-over (the negatives) from industrial fabrication, so beautiful in patterns and clean computer-generated cuts. And then I love the chunks, pipes, and sheets used by apprentice welders and art metal students in class. Covered with practice welds, like so many scars, cut, rewelded for fun or work, they are tossed and ready to recycle again. Those long braids of welding beads made from hours of concentrated effort in patience, frustration, wonder, curiosity, bored resignation or playful mastery, move me and inspire me as expressions of human labor. Such chunks are tossed as having served their purpose, but to me they still carry the energy of effort and, in their sometimes wavering or awkward look, the initial welder’s hope of becoming a better metal artist, of getting a professional certification. To my eye, they have an archeological quality and an archeological beauty, witness of some other human’s psyche. And formally speaking, many of them are as beautiful as jewelry, just like that, simply by themselves. “Bad” welds can have a lot of ornamental character. They don’t belong in a bridge, but I love to see them in sculpture.
So what do I do with the found steel?
Well, most of all I love people and I love faces. Like in life, like with people, I look for faces in the pieces of steel that come my way. Sometimes, something else appears in the steel, but faces are my first quest. In the mask series, the expression and personality are what matter to me most. The masks are roughly of human scale, and my intention is to establish interaction and recognition, un face-à-face. I hope you enjoy the dialog!
Valérie
