“Les mains à l’argile” par Ronan Bouroullec

Using felt-tips, pencils, Bic pens, Ronan Bouroullec has been drawing for years – abstract forms composed of adjacent lines, flowing like currents, forming almost obsessive or meditative patterns – quietly and voraciously. In this Spring’s exhibition of these drawings at the Hôtel des Arts in Toulon, there were a few interlopers – ceramic bas-reliefs hung like clues to the exhibition “Hands on Clay”, now showing at the Galerie du Canon. No surprise, as Ronan Bouroullec’s work is all about links, memories, bridges, cross-fertilisation, possibilities…

Following the drawings, it is his passion for working with clay, in all its forms, that he is now presenting at the
Galerie du Canon.
In the other rooms of the Toulon gallery, techniques, finishes and textures clash or cohabit happily, in dissonance or harmony, demonstrating Ronan Bouroullec’s appetite for ceramics. He embraces a broad spectrum, from craftsmanship to industrial pieces, from haphazard hand-made cut-outs to modelling and moulding. Sophisticated glazes appear to have been applied in brushstrokes by the Burgundian craftsman, and the Sosei vases, made by ceramicists from Tajimi, in Japan, provide a compelling contrast with the rough clay of the Bloc terracotta bricks designed by the Bouroullec studio to make up architectural and decorative structures, and manufactured by Mutina in Italy. These creations reveal a personal interpretation of a universal skill.

Between 2D bas-reliefs and 3D objects, between art, craft and design, between the fragility of sculptures made of extruded pieces that appear to be caught in motion, or the hieratic Rombini vases produced with Mutina and Bitossi, between the shine of enamel and the matt finish of the oil pastel background of the bas-reliefs, between the precision of aluminium and imprecise lines, between the sensuality and roughness of clay, Ronan Bouroullec navigates between all possibilities, which he hangs vertically on the wall or exhibits horizontally on pedestals, themselves creations of a desire for a complete work of art.

Yet behind this profusion of hues, textures and volumes, “Hands on Clay” is imbued with a unity that gives form to the contemplation of gesture, the relationship to composition and construction within a space, which Ronan Bouroullec lays out here with precision and rich abundance.