Discover the contemporary work of JAGGI
FORMES, MATIÈRES ET GALETS BALISENT LE PARCOURS ARTISTIQUE DE CE SCULPTEUR PLASTICIEN AUTODIDACTE. "Depuis quelques années je travaille avec des galets que j’intègre dans mes œuvres. Je les assemble, les insère dans le bois ou le fer, les accorde en mobiles ou les monte sur ressort, les accumule, les amasse, les amoncelles, les groupe, les empile ou les entasse lors d’installations. Parfois patinés ou peints, leur influence se reflète dans mes modelages céramiques. Le galet, matériau de la nature, est l’un de mes compagnons d’atelier. Avec le bois, son complice, ils sont source d’inspiration et leitmotivs de mes travaux récents."
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JAGGI
Sculptures and Installations
Pierre Jaggi was born in Geneva on February 25, 1957, where he spent his childhood and completed
his secondary studies. At 18 he decided to travel the wide world. He left for Asia, for a 9-month
journey that took him to India and Nepal after crossing part of Afghanistan on horseback. He takes a
keen interest in indigenous ways of life and various local crafts. Subsequently, he crossed the
Sahara, which he will cross again on various occasions. Driven by a thirst for adventure, he
embarks on a pirogue and descends the Niger River with other companions. This experience on the
borders of our civilizations will earn him the knowledge of the essential and the relative. At the age
of 20 he worked on a cargo ship bound for Togo and continued his journey through West Africa.
After a short stay in Switzerland, he returned to Africa for two years during which he learned to
shape the earth and produced various murals. Then it is the meeting with South America, the
Andean populations and their pre-Columbian history, the crossing of the Amazon on the Amazon
river. This is the period of his first travel photos. In Brazil, he manufactures sets and jewelry, and
embarks from Rio as a crew member on a sailboat to cross the Atlantic. This 45-day crossing to
Cape Town will remain a milestone in its existence. Back in Geneva in 1982 he met the one who
would become his companion. With her, he will navigate in the movement of the School of Fine
Arts, after returning to Africa to learn about traditional techniques of lost wax casting. In Bobo-
Dioulasso he meets the master founder who will pass on his knowledge to him. With friends, he
built earthen huts in a bush village, and it was there that they held bronze workshops in 1984 and
1985 for students from the Geneva School of Fine Arts. He will return each winter to this African
village to deepen his knowledge of bronze casting and continue his plastic research. He also
photographs the natives during customary festivals. At the same time, he presents his first sculptures
in a gallery in Geneva. In 1988, he went to Uruguay for a year with his partner Arlette, it was there
that their daughter Alizée was born. He set up a foundry workshop and made several sculptures
which he exhibited in Buenos-Aires, Montevideo, and Punta del Este. He fell in love with the old
cars that crisscrossed the roads of Uruguay and bought a Ford A 1929 pickup truck, in which he
would later carry out a photographic report. Back in Europe, he settled in France with his family,
restored an old farmhouse, set up a workshop and executed the sculpture “Corps et Graphie”
inaugurated in Geneva in May 1991. He exhibited in various galleries in Switzerland and France.
His son Valentin was born in 1994. In 1996 he returned to Uruguay to make a report on “cachilas”
(popular name given to old cars in Uruguay). That same year, he led a bronze internship during the
Borne ceramic meetings. He incorporates other materials in his sculptures, such as wood, iron and
stone, and works the earth again. His works, anthropomorphic in character, tend to purify lines and
volumes and orient themselves towards stylized figuration and abstraction. In 1998 he won the
“Year 2000” competition organized by the municipality of Gd-Saconnex in Geneva, and exhibited
at the Shakan gallery in Lausanne. Inspired by nature, he presented his first outdoor installations
during the Open Doors Workshops in the Cher in 1999, and became a member of the Center
Céramique de la Borne. In 2000, he participated in the first Contemporary Art Fair in Bourges and
exhibited at the Voutat gallery in Geneva. At the beginning of 2001, he returned to Uruguay in order
to prepare the publication of a photo book for the “Ides et Calendes” editions, which would be
released in September of that same year under the name “Cachilas, a story of jacks in Uruguay. In
2002, he exhibited at the Diorama gallery in Geneva, at the Shakan gallery in Lausanne, at the
Contemporary Art Fair in Bourges, and created the North / South installation on the Esplanade
Montbenon in Lausanne. At the same time, he took over the presidency of the Artipousse
association which runs plastic arts workshops in rural areas in the Cher department. In 2003, he
became a member of the Association of Sculptors of Geneva, he won the competition for the review
Accrochage, and exhibited at the Beaujon space in Paris, invited by the City Hall of the 8thArrondissement. In 2004, he exhibited as a guest artist at the Center de Création Céramique de La
Borne on the theme of the pebble, and presented at the third Contemporary Art Fair the work
"Triptych" which will be acquired by the city of Bourges. In 2005, commissioned by the city of
Onex, he produced “Rencontre”, an artistic intervention on a sequoia in Brot Park in Geneva, a
sculpture from which a tray will be extracted which will become a palaver table for the inhabitants
of the district, place du 150ème. . In 2006, he mounted a solo exhibition at the Ferme de la Chapelle
gallery in Geneva, then inaugurated the work Triptyque at the 3rd Biennale of Contemporary Art in
Bourges. He then participated in the Lancy Quadrennial in Geneva, as well as the 8th edition of
Quid Novi? in Gaillard. He also presents his work at the Simple gallery in Gstaad. In 2007, he was
one of the winners of the 1% Artistic Competition at the Collège d'Isneauville in Rouen and
presented the “Growing Up” project there. Then, he exhibited at the Galerie du Théâtre Mac-Nab in
Vierzon where the city acquired the sculpture “Colossus”. Then he took part in the “Art in all its
States” event in Limay where he carried out an in situ intervention on chestnut trees. He also
exhibits at the United Nations Palace in Geneva. As part of a call for tenders, he inaugurates a Wall
Signage Sculpture that he produced for the Sports Complex of Belleville-sur-Loire. In 2008, he
participated in the Rencontres des Arts in Mers-sur-Indre, as well as in the 17th International Ice
Sculpture Competition in Valloire. In 2009, he was invited to the workshop of the International
Snow and Ice Sculptures in Hovden, Norway. He took part in the “Featherweight” exhibition at the
Ferme de la Chapelle gallery in Geneva, then produced a fish for the “O'Fish Parade” event which
took place as part of the Loire Festival in Orléans, and presented one of his new sculptures for the
11th edition of Quid Novi? In Gaillard. In 2010, he won the 19th International Ice Sculpture
Competition in Valloire, and exhibits its terracotta pebbles during the “Territories in Movement” of
Contemporary Ceramics Japan / France in Paris. In 2011, he won the 20th International Ice
Sculpture Competition in Valloire, and exhibited his sculptures during the “A painter & a
ceramicist” Opus I meetings, at the Center Céramique Contemporaine La Borne. In 2012, he
exhibited new pieces for Opus II of the CCCLB. It presents wood and pebble sculptures painted
during the Artistic Meetings at the Château de Villemenard, and recent works in stone, metal,
charcoal and ceramic during the Quadriennale de Sculptures in Lancy, Geneva. In 2013, he
organized an event and was part of this “De Terre et d'Eau” exhibition at the Château d'Eau in
Bourges. He is also exhibiting a large mud sculpture made up of several elements for “Utopian
Architectures”, at the Center Céramique Contemporaine La Borne. In 2014, he won the 23rd
International Ice Sculpture Competition in Valloire, and exhibited with the Geneva Sculptors
Association, at the Foundry in Carouge. In 2015, he exhibited at the Kaminska and Stocker Gallery,
in Yverdon-les-Bains. In 2016, he was invited to China with other artists in residence, and the
Tucheng International Art Center acquired “Trois Sculptures Mobiles”. He also exhibits
“Eurythmy” and “Double Mobilité” during the Sculptures Quadrennial in Lancy. In 2017, he
presented a series of sculptures called “Géométries Variables”, as part of Contemporary Ceramics at
the Couvent de Treigny. At the same time, he also exhibited “Les Cones et Balanciers” during the
5th Biennial of Contemporary Monumental Sculpture in Sologne, as well as his new Monoblocs. In
2018, a new sculpture called “REVER” was made, and in the fall he left for a new stay in artistic
residency at the Besharat Museum Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2019, he exhibited his corten steel
sculptures at the Galerie du Pont des Z'Arts in Seyssel. he also exhibits “The Tree and the Bird”
during the 6th Montreux Biennale as well as “Trajectoire” during the Contemporary Art Biennial in
Sologne. On the other hand, the “REVER” bench is now installed in the public domain in
Chaumont-sur-Tharonne. In 2020, he exhibited "Living Stones # 2 - Go et Lent" (balance and
movement made of steel and pebbles) at the Lancy Sculpture Quadrennial in Geneva, this work is a
silent dialogue between two birds and the mobility that animates them through moment, when the
wind blows in or passers-by are looking at them.
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