La Minerve, 2022

Philippe Rude  

Philippe Rude is a ceramic sculptor from northern France who, since 2014, has been committed to giving form to his intuitive emotions and feelings....

This great freedom to be unique, in color, in form, in sound, in words... To be able and dare to express myself with thoughts and emotions. To shed a very introverted childhood, riddled with why. A few paintings in adolescence, then the meeting with an Alsatian stained glass creator in Cameroon, who offered me the choice of colors for a stained glass window, while I was only there to help him weld the scrap metal frames, cut the glass according to his drawings and fetch the clay from the backwater to hold the glass in a sandwich of two sheets of this earth. Watching me try to model a face in this clay, he explained the basics of modeling. He had me make the roughing tools with the shaft of a palm leaf. What an exciting self-discovery, putting your soul at your fingertips.

I am a ceramic sculptor from the north of France who, since 2014, has been fully committed to giving form to my emotions and intuitive feelings. In parallel with my professional career in the metallurgical industry, I studied and worked on mastering my art with my Masters Hubert Dufour and Yves Guérin who encouraged me to embark on this path dedicated to creation. I thus pushed open the heavy gate of the Jardin des Arts to devote myself to Ceramics, a universe of earth and fire where my imagination expresses itself with power, depth and subtlety. From 2020, I participated in my first collective exhibition at Fort de Condé (02), on the theme of "The Great War and after". My monumental sculpture named "Le Cerbère", an evocation of the hell of war and mental illnesses such as "shell shock", was widely noted.

The "CUBE" collection, whose original work is in struck and crushed steel on an angle thus drawing the s of Souffrance, becomes the standard for a series of variations: wood, resin, ceramic and even jewelry in the form of a signet ring, a sort of identity signature. As an artist, I also deploy this crushed cube to make my "Vanité" or even a chronological totem with variations of colors and materials symbolizing spaces and times and entitled "From Peace to Peace". This form of "crushing" of the cube subtly returns in many sculptures.

Through my encounters and my imaginary journeys, I will discover through the baptism of fire the work of copper oxide and smoking. Amazed by the iridescent colors caused by the incidence of light, this technique magnifies my sensitivity and echoes this childish and ephemeral emotion of the rainbow; I thus leave a beautiful part to Nature, to reverie, he likes the surprise of the nuances of colors linked to thermal shock and oxygen deprivation. The mastery of firing is reserved for artisans, the artist, him, seeks Emotion.

The crushed cube that is often found as a signature in my creations. The use of this form to avoid the ruts of artistic currents, which allows me to create according to my moods in all these currents, classic, abstract, contemporary, conceptual, surrealist ... and to be able to design it in wood, in clay, in resin, in jewelry. The use of terracotta allows to leave a large part to nature to make the works unique, to be surprised by a color when unfurling. I let the earth, and the enamels harmonize to become emotion.

I consider that my sculptures, once finished, no longer belong to me; they belong to those who look at them. They become enigmas, emotions, surprises, reveries or even stories...

My inspiration can come from strong emotions like the anger of mourning, from situations of unpretentious well-being, from historical research, from reading a small book "The Abridged Dictionary of Fables" from 1748... in old French of mythological figures and subjects. Or completely instinctive in the search for forms caressing my gaze. Music can also be a source of inspiration.

Using the same clay, some of my sculptures require a very technical first approach to avoid sagging, cracks, or breakage during firing. I often prepare supports in wood, metal, or string, then I build the volumes until the sculpture takes on soul, then it is just discussions between my fingers and itself. If it does not take on soul, it is because the magic has not happened, so the clay returns to its pile.

Creating my own tools and supports, and not having followed any technical studies in the art of sculpture, I could not say whether I borrow a technique or whether I am an innovator.

My preferred medium remains clay, especially chamotte stoneware. This medium lives throughout the execution and birth of my sculptures; clay is very docile once you understand its character. It is a long process that requires tenacity and self-denial before starting the path of artistic creation. It would be difficult for me to change clay today, because I now know its firing curves, its post-firing exploitation possibilities.

I produce my sculptures in my own studio, which I have designed in my own way. This studio is an outbuilding separate from my home. It is also important for me to have designed this space; it is my framework, my cocoon that allows me to express myself by freeing myself from all external structures. My studio is introverted so that I can be extroverted in my art.

Having set up my studio during these two years of confinement, my work is still imbued with intimacy; I exhibit it very little, one or two regional exhibitions per year.

I'm taking small steps forward; I made my first bronze sculpture in 2021, "Liriope," which is a new milestone. I have another sculpture that will be cast in bronze this year, "The Old Centaur," now I need to confirm.

My latest work in progress is a conversation of five refined terracotta shapes. They are arranged in the studio, awaiting a colorful dressing. The style is contemporary. They should leave the studio in about three months.