Emotional and humorous female images captured in bronze by contemporary sculptors

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Modern sculptors for the most part have practically departed from realism, and in their works they focus on meaning, observing only the conventionality of the sculptural form created. But the ordinary modern viewer, in addition to the philosophical content, prefers to contemplate in sculptures both real form, and beautiful plastic, and emotions. In our publication there is a gallery of emotional, semantic and plastic works, Belgian Dirk De Keyser and French Valerie Hadida, where you can look at female images through the eyes of masters-sculptors - men and women.

Bronze sculptures by Dirk De Keyzer

The sculptor Dirk De Keyser works with bronze and is the author of amazing and original sculptural compositions. His bronze statues, according to fans of creativity, carry everything that makes a person happier: humor, beauty and a light haze of eroticism. For almost a quarter of a century, he has been working on a universal theme dedicated to a woman who has brought him worldwide recognition and success. - says the artist.

The sculptor Dirk De Keyser (1958) is from Belgium. Like many young men of his age, after school he went to study at a vocational school, and then ended up in a factory. However, the young guy was attracted by other horizons, which later led him to the Royal Academy in Eklo. From his youth, Keizer was very attracted by the works of the great European sculptors of the distant past, he was also fascinated by the statues of his compatriots Georges Minnet, Constantin Meunier and the Frenchman Auguste Rodin. Therefore, it was not surprising that at the academy he showed the greatest passion for sculpture.

Choosing bronze for his works as a pictorial material, Dirk believed that it would be the best way to help him express his creative ideas, emotions and innermost thoughts. And he made the right decision. Later, having discovered the techniques of famous sculptors, he explored the artistic possibilities of an almost lost method of sculpting called the "wax method". As a result, the sculptor, relying on classical techniques and modern trends, created his own unique author's style. And now it is difficult for art critics to give a clear definition of his work in a number of artistic trends and trends already existing at the moment.

The artist has two passions: bronze and women. His girls, girls and women of noble metal are touching, romantic, decisive, flirtatious and often very funny, capable of causing a smile even in a gloomy viewer. In all of Dirk's sculptural compositions, we see that a more significant part of them is occupied by the semantic load and humorous mood, rather than the beauty and refinement of the form itself.

Of course, it is humor that is an important aspect of the work of Dirk de Keyser, who is deeply convinced that it is the most powerful tool in the fight against the shortcomings and vices of our modern society. Therefore, with his work, he makes the viewer think about the lightness of being, discarding the negative perception of the world and the hustle and bustle of everyday life. As the artist himself admits, while creating his hapless heroines, he experiences a certain therapeutic effect and tries to convey it to his viewers.

Dirk's sculptures are mostly small in size - no more than half a meter. But sometimes the master also creates two-meter sculptural compositions, which perfectly fit both the interior of premises of different styles and the urban landscape. It is worth noting that bronze statues tolerate moisture and temperature changes well, and over time they become even more beautiful., - the master jokes.

Mostly Dirk De Keyser lives and works in Ostflandern, Belgium. But, often in the summer, in order to get inspired and gain new impressions, he moves to sunny France, where he has his own studio, and already there he sculpts his distinctive, charming and funny heroines.

Emotions of little women by Valerie Hadida

Valerie Hadida is a contemporary French painter and sculptor working mainly in bronze. Her series of sculptures, The Little Women series, has been described by critics as "a journey that leads women from adolescence to adulthood through a variety of emotions and moods."

Valerie Hadida (1965) is from France. Trained as an artist at the School of Plastic Arts and Journalism in Paris (EMSAT), she worked at the Marielle Polska studio for 6 years and is also a character writer for several animated films. Since 1990, she began to exhibit in leading galleries in Europe, and already in 1991 she became a laureate of the Paul Ricard Foundation Prize.

Little women sculptors are a poetic world designed to make us enter her universe and fully experience the emotions that different generations of women experience. She likes to call her heroines Lolita … Of course, with some notes of provocation, and, of course, with great tenderness. In the numerous female figures created by Valerie, the viewer can see teenage girls and dreamy girls and mature women. All of them are delicate, graceful and very feminine, frozen in anticipation, and at the same time driven by the wind of life.

And although the figures of some characters are motionless, the viewer sees their movement, thanks to the curls that flutter in different directions. This technique is used to convey dynamics in a composition. Their curls - says the artist, noting that the strands emphasize the curves of figures, elongated fingers and the general shape of female bodies. And he also adds: Isn't that why her heroines are so graceful and fragile? …

The master begins to work on the sculpture with a graphic sketch, then sculpts a figure or several characters at the same time from clay, then casts the finished composition from bronze, which eventually becomes covered with a green noble patina.

Recently, the size of Valerie's sculptures has "grown" from small to one meter high. And sometimes they practically correspond to real human growth. Every sculpture by Valerie is incredible! It seems that the sculptor creates femininity and charm from a piece of soulless metal. The subtly felt and amazing sense of form and stylization of her works deserves all praise and will leave few people indifferent.

The new era also demands from the sculptors who create large-scale monuments for city squares, also extraordinary creative solutions. Therefore, they have long gone beyond the generally accepted concepts of monumental sculpture. Read about the amazing woman sculptor who creates kinetic sculptural compositions in our publication: A reviving sculpture about the strangeness of love and other works by the Georgian master Tamara Kvesitadze.