Patrice BONGRAND

From these Japanese arts, Patrice discovered with a great sense of emotion and inner meaning the concepts of Japanese aesthetics, such as wabi (austerity, sobriety, simplicity), sabi (the mark of time, wear and tear, rusticity) and yūgen (mystery, elegance, contained sadness).

Patrice works using two techniques derived from the tradition of Japanese ceramicists:

– The medium temperature raku (between 1,000°C and 1,100°C), for producing sculptures, paintings and tea objects.

– Stoneware fired in the anagama wood kiln for sculptures, tea bowls (chawan) and other tea objects.

Work philosophy

In the beauty of life we find traces of the past: there is nothing new, only new interpretations. Everything is a tribute to life, which is recreated over and over.

Working with clay links us to our origins. It is a constantly renewed quest, one that is sensitive to the four elements and which is in response to the movements of the spirit and the heart.

Working with matter 

This dynamic matter embodies all possibilities: recessed and raised forms, full and slender bodies, chaos and order. There are ample opportunities to explore the endless possibilities of an inner world that can be represented through the wonderful means of the human hand.

Clay is an exceptional medium due to the creative possibilities that it presents. Its malleability offers the artist a powerful interaction with the four elements: earth, the nurturing mother; water, the source of all life; air, which holds everything together; and fire, which sculpts matter with its energy.