Philippe Le Guillou

Sculptor artist

This Breton is fascinated by stones, menhirs, dolmens which stimulate his imagination and his inspiration. His father, who often went to sea, left him his workbench and his tools. At 17, he tackled an oak log, a chisel and a drill, his first sculpture. At the age of 24, in the magical forest of Brocéliande, he sculpts tortuous stumps. After long journeys, he settled in Cadière d'Azur.

It is through his many travels that Philippe found his inspiration. In the USA, he discovered the art totems of the native Indians and in Morocco, the craftsmen of Essaouira encouraged him as an artist.

The Art of sculpture is present everywhere: Sri Lankan temples, Polynesian Tikis, Malagasy mahafale tombs or Maori canoes.

The masks of African Art deeply moved him with their emotional and mystical charge. Since his early childhood, he has observed the sky, the geometry of stars and galaxies as well as molecules, a question of scale. For him, the best artist is Nature, the rocks sculpted by the wind of Antarctica, the rock formations of Tassili or a simple pool of dried mud offer as much inspiration as the sea.

He admires many artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, Matta, Eduardo Chillida, Archipenko, Constantin Brancusi, Marx Ernst, César, Antony Gormley, Armand..., and the masters of contemporary Aboriginal art.

All materials fascinate him, each with their specificity. He started with building metals like copper, tin, brass, steel and more recently Corten steel which is an oxidized but stable, resistant and unpredictable alloy. It is for him the material which chooses it with its requirements.

"It's a fight, we try to dominate, but we finally get something other than what we imagined".

Sculpture is the encounter and then the confrontation with the material, an endless quest!