For the Love of Art & Fashion

EMMANUEL GUILLON

My story begins in adolescence with the help of two very important people from the Cognac region. The first, my maternal grandfather who introduced me to the  world of nature and the cycle of life, the second , my paternal grandfather who taught me the magic of steel and blacksmithing. As I grew up and self-taught, sculpture became a revelation and a permanent quest.

Self-taught, it was in 2018 that I set up as an animal sculptor in steel. In my workshop, it is based on steel plate that I forge on the anvil, that I shape and hammers the metal of my hands to give birth to an animal as it exists in the nature. Without template or plan, I assemble each part by welding without internal structure then carries out the finishing of this one by seeking to give that it is the texture of skin, the aspect feather or hair, as precise as possible to be as close to reality as possible.

Each work is a unique piece which when it leaves the workshop for the greatest pleasure of its purchaser, a donation is donated to an animal protection association to help that the animal world around us can still exist in the wild.   In my workshop, on an anvil, or a vice, I shape and hammer steel plates with my hands instinctively, without a template, without a plan, without a matrix and assembled without internal structures simply by welding them together, before producing the grain of skin and finishes.  I give birth to a sculpture, an animal as it is in its natural environment. The sculpture becomes a permanent show where all my senses and desires develop. You discover an animal faithful to its reality; inviting you to contemplate the smallest details. Close your eyes, touch the texture of your skin and imagine yourself petting a giraffe; a rhinoceros or an iguana...steel becomes skin, matter is transformed and comes to life.

I am a contemporary French sculptor who sublimates the animal world by creating timeless works frozen for eternity and alive with positive inspirations . In order to be able to realize a project that is close to my heart, the protection of the animal world, which is slowly dying on our planet where the ambition of power and profit contributes to its extinction. After the departure of each work, a donation will be made to an association for the protection of animals. This is my reason for being and for creating.