Métamorphose, 2018
Dominique Dardek

Dominique Dardek, born July 14, 1957, was first interested in painting. But around 1980, attracted by the sensuality of the volumes, he quickly turned to sculpture. Since 1984, he has participated in numerous exhibitions in the west of France and obtained prizes such as the first sculpture prize at the Bauge biennial in 84, 86, 88, the medal of honor in 1986 and honorary prize in 1988 at the Le Mans show. Personal exhibitions are dedicated to him in galleries such as Angers, Rennes, La Baule, Toulouse… In 1991, Dominique Dardek was also selected to present works at the stand of young creators at Moving and at the "Design Connection" fair. In parallel with his primary activity, he works on design projects in the following areas: furniture, lighting, tableware. He says of the glass paste that it "brings to his work an additional dimension, accentuating by its translucency the dynamics and the volatility of the being. By its transparency, it extends the work beyond its own limits". He works with a knife, abuses his reality, gives it rough edges that play with the lighting. Play of shadows and light, meeting of materials ... Highlights. Through glass, he brings an additional dimension to his work, giving it mobility and a dynamic tending to distance it from materiality. “Dardek achieves here a subtle alchemy between bronze and glass. From this equation are born aquatic or aerial works, where the passage from static to dynamic is essential to the gaze. These characters are passengers. It is about a birth experienced as a tear by these beings who discover a universe. This marriage between bronze (earth) and glass (air) then gives life to living works, a dynamic accentuated by the play of shadows and light made possible by the use of glass ”. - Le Maine Libre “The volume fascinates Dominique Dardek. The fame of this self-taught Laval sculptor, who has just turned forty, goes far beyond the borders of the department. Thus, Dominique Dardek has just presented "The Thinker", a monumental work of 4m high at the 5th European sculpture biennial which ends today at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. In addition, this Mayenne is the only local artist requested by the Mission for the celebration of the year 2000, to celebrate the turn of the millennium ”. - Ouest France “In bronze and glass, the works of this artist allow us to discover a world in movement, all in lightness, suffused with soft light. This technique which is specific to it, associates cut glass, assembled, frosted in the shape of an arch, a staircase, a column supporting moving bodies ... Alongside these "different" sculptures, we also discover resins and ceramics all smooth, all round, celebrating the voluptuousness of a female body: sculptures that beg to be caressed ... "- Ouest-France" The sculptor Dardek offers an exhibition of his recent works; this artist has the particularity in most of his work, to stage his characters using glass or altuglas supports, which offers the subject the possibility of living in different facets, and the transparency of the materials brings them to life. His subject of inspiration is mainly women, whom he treats according to his fancy, but always with the primary objective of highlighting all the grace of femininity ”. “He comes to us from Laval and presents his latest creations in Paris. Self-taught, he works with the material using the lost wax method or using bronze and glass assemblies or even ceramics with an equal happiness that he has nothing to envy of certain plastic artists who have received training. His sculptures project such radiance that we perceive all the emotion of the sculptor savoring the birth of his creation, as he wished it, imagined it to then move on to the realization. There, as if by magic, the material takes shape and, little by little, the feline lines of a dream creature appear since, like many of his colleagues, his main source of inspiration is undoubtedly the most delicious of creatures. : wife. »- Arts News Magazine