RIEU Jacques, sculpture, permanent artist of Galerie Capazza since 2006

Jacques Rieu's sculptures are realized in the most diverse materials: marble, limestone and granite, or modeled in clay, and numerous works are sculptured in diverse wooden essences (yew, elm, sequoia). Materials are chosen to perfectly fit the forms.


We discover or rediscover forms, extremely varied volumes, which develop tense and pure curves, present polished or rough surfaces, and show mysterious cavities, or sometimes complex associations.


Rieu explores and draws his own way with a talent which belongs only to him. I wish you to go fast to judge it by yourself.


Extract of blog www.gilblog.fr, dedicated to La Borne.

Biography

Born on January 30th, of 1967 in Villemonble, France

Read more

Formation

1983-86 Ecole d’arts graphiques «
rue Madame   »
1986-93 Ecole Nationale Supérieur des Beaux-Arts, sculpture, Jean Cardot studio

Read more

Prizes and interventions

1st sculpture Price at the fair of Villiers Saint-Paul
Annual bursary for sculpture from The Beaux Arts academy, Tronchet foundation
Resident at the Laurent Vuibert foundation at the Lourmarin castle, France
International symposium of Brach, Croatia
Awarded Great Price of the Taylor Foundation

Read more

Exhibitions

2021  Enfances, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2020  Le torse d’une femme à la pureté d’un vase, grandes courbes simples d’un fruit désiré, Parcours d’art contemporain autour d’Auguste Rodin, 1 exhibition, 5 places, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2019  L’arbre, c’est le temps rendu visible, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2018  Miroir des Sentiments, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2017  Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2016  Vénus et Vulcain, collective exhibition, Galerie Capazza, Nançay

2015  Biennial of contemporary art in Sologne, maison du cerf de Villeny, Loir-et-Cher
Abstract Project, collective exhibition, Espace des arts abstraits, Paris

2014  Exhibition Sauvages with Jacques Rieu and Reid Masselink for the European Heritage Day in the Fontainebleau area, at Bourron Marlotte

2012  Fair New Realities Hors les Murs, Moulins de Villancourt, Le Pont de Claix, France
International Sculpture Biennale, Copenhagen, Denmark
Réalités Nouvelles Fair, Paris, France
Cabinet de curiosités, Paris, France
Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France

2011  Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Réalités Nouvelles Fair, Paris, France

2010  Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Réalités Nouvelles Fair, Paris, France
Retrospective to the Natural History Museum of Bourges, France

2009  Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France
Réalités Nouvelles Fair, Paris, France

2008  Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France

2007  Galerie Capazza, Nançay, France

2000  Restoration of all the sculpted heads of the Hôtel Thiers of Paris, France

1999  Realisation of a Memorial Monument to 1914-1918 war, Villeron, France

1996  Château de la Forêt, Liry Gargan, France

1995  Institut International d’Administration Publique de Paris, France
Sainte Fare, église de Faremoutiers, France

1994  Restoration of the Place de l’Alma pediment, Paris, France

1993  Château de Lourmarin, France

1990  5th fair of Villiers Saint Paul, France   Fair of Etaples, France

1989  City Hall of la Celle Saint-Cloud, France
Hôtel Holiday Inn, Paris, France   

Read more

How to choose a particular bone and sublimate it

Approach of my work as a sculptor - Jacques Rieu

My plastic research is about the mystery of creation and the one of the animal diversity with its characteristics.

At first, I study the mechanics of the bodies, the structure and the architecture of the bones that I collected during my travels or my meetings.
Some bones particularly attract me and hold my attention.
The skull, which is the most complex form of bone, in particular the receptacle of the five senses, was my first subject of study. It can even be associated with locomotion linked to the position of the occipital hole.
I widened the field of my research to all the other bones (long bone, short bone, vertebrae, wishbone, astragalus, sphenoid...) and thus constituted a library of forms linked to a function which are for me the expression of a natural beauty. 

Just as Darwin - in particular with his finches of the Galapagos Islands which led him to his theory of the evolution - I study several individuals of the same species to invent a specimen that the direct size will make remarkable.

This idea of sculpture, I confront it with different materials (wood, stone, earth).
The disproportion and the properties of these materials lead this work of direct size to aesthetic surprises, another glance and a singular abstraction:
- a dog's shoulder blade becomes the coat of Saint Roch in Cuban mahogany
- a chicken wishbone turns into a stainless steel arch
- an equine cervical, an endless column...

Inscribed in a dynamic of the celebration of life, these sculptures of naked stone are looked at as counter-vanities.
They remind us all of our fossil eternity.

Anchored in the Green Perigord, I dialogue with all that nourishes and perpetuates this mystery: 
- the caves (evoking the history of before, anthropological manifestation of the links which unite the man and the mother earth)
- prehistory, at the crossroads of science and art (Callipyge Venus, carved stone, tools…)
- the forest (refuge of the living, the wild and the sacred in our collective memory)
- the fauna, the flora and the Dronne, the source of life.

Read more
For a better view, please turn your smartphone.