Christian Renonciat: Caresses

Art Historian Jean-Luc Chalumeau writes, “When this exceptional sculptor ‘executes’ a piece, must we ask what came before the work at hand?

Was there an aesthetic object present in the artist’s imagination before it took form in the real world? The question, I believe, is of some importance, and we are fortunate that the artist has provided some explanations in this regard:

Without mediation? Of course not: the wood is the medium, the mediator, the corporeal contact point that shapes the figure in the world. Wood is the joker, a trump card that is the image of the body in the world, a connection, a meeting point, a way to become one with the game; in a word, feeling.

We are given to understand that this artist, like all authentic creators, does not merely observe, but feels from within. At the same time he also experiences the world and leaves room for the physical experiences of the body in a way that specifically does not rely on language.”

Christian Renonciat was born in Paris, and received his degree from Sorbonne in 1969. Upon completion, he went to work for a studio in Antebes, where he apprenticed with experts in the field of furniture restoration for the royal family.

After working in this studio for six years, he opened his own studio in Valbonne where he made his first sculpture. The following year, he held his first show at the Gallerie Alain Blondel.

Since 2006, he has been represented in the United States by Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Inc.