Discover the contemporary work of Sarah Scouarnec
Coming from a family of ceramic sculptors, Sarah Scouarnec has always been immersed in the Earth. As a child, she modeled clay in her father's workshop and gave life to many chimeras born from her imagination.
As an adult, she chose a career as a Lighting Designer, which she practiced in different artistic environments such as cinema, theater and museography. Being behind the scenes of the art world allowed her to sharpen her eye and considerably broaden her classical and contemporary culture. It was there that she discovered or rediscovered these geniuses who became her Masters and sources of inspiration such as Rodin, El Greco, Dali, Barbara Hepworth, Mourad Merzouki, Hofesh Shechter, Orson Welles, ....
In 2014, she began to create lighting fixtures by mixing different materials such as paper and steel, but also clay. In 2020, she chose to retain only the medium of earth, her Earth. This is how she sheds the functional side to refocus on Art and sculpture, and leaves the shadow professions after 20 years of career to put herself in the spotlight as a Sculptor. It was a process of transformation for her, where inspiration is transformed into action, and where art becomes a personal voice as a necessity.
She then decided to train with other renowned sculptors such as Philippe Seené and Pierre-Jean Chabert. Today, she works with clay and bronze in her studio located at the Ateliers de la Morinerie in Saint-Pierre-Des-Corps, near Tours, and participates in numerous local and national exhibitions.
My artistic practice in sculpture focuses on the representation of the mechanisms of my mind, particularly exploring the intellectual operations of the unconscious. I am inspired by surrealist painters such as Dali to express the imagination and dreams, addressing subjects that deeply touch me: metamorphosis, our connection with nature, feminine power and beauty, awareness and our connection to subtle worlds. Through my sculptures, I explore our torments and existential questions.
Drawing from mythology, I address these themes while adding a narrative dimension and powerful symbols. Telling a universal story allows viewers to feel a before and after when faced with the work frozen in front of them. My main goal is to animate the inanimate, while inviting viewers to personal introspection and emotional connection.
To communicate emotion, I seek to give my sculptures a sense of life, as Rodin emphasized when he stated that life resides in movement. Thus, I focus on hands and faces, universal symbols of communication. Nothing is more expressive than an open hand or a face with furrowed brows. I create a sense of movement by playing with unbalanced postures, suggesting a latent dynamism, or by representing the wind in hair, feathers or fabrics, evoking a mental agitation even in stillness
