05.02.2019-06.15.2019
PHILIPPE BARDE
Stolen stones
Over twenty years ago I was already making casts of rocks. Back then I needed to think about the sense of the technique and the perception of form. If I am going back to the rock-as-archetype in 2017, I am doing so in order to explore the origin of ceramics in an even more radical manner.
Rock existed long before ceramic. By firing stones on supports I activate two fundamental principles of this medium: transformation by fire and by form. Except that here, the form is no longer derived from the plasticity of clay but is forged by heat and the laws of gravity. A kind of sculpture by fire.
The slow formation of millions of years, caused by the friction of tectonic plates, is re-visited by a 24 hour firing. And so is transformed a second time by the human mind. In this way I reinterpret the careful observations of the first ceramists more than 15 000 years ago. In a way, a
brief history of humanity. - Philippe Barde