Ceramic sculptures exhibited at the L'app'Art gallery

"I'm keeping a certain distance since I'm not carrying a message." Michel Lacroix is ​​an artist from La Rochelle who began creating in 2017, and he applied to the L'app'Art gallery to exhibit 25 of his ceramic sculptures. The application paid off, as from Monday, May 26th until June 7th, his pieces are on display at the art gallery on Rue Arago in Périgueux.

The artist describes his art as experimental and purely decorative. He designs his unique pieces with very specific materials. "I use stoneware, a clay that vitrifies and becomes waterproof at around 1,200 degrees, but which collapses easily before this firing," he says. After shaping them as he wishes with his hands, the artist first fires his creations in his studio kiln at 1,000 degrees to obtain a hard and porous material.

Next comes the enameling stage, in which the pieces are colored with a varnish, the enamel, composed of water and a mixture of earth and a different metal oxide depending on the desired color. "There are three different techniques for enameling," says Michel Lacroix. "You can immerse the piece in the varnish, spray it, or use a brush, which is what I do." After applying the enamel, the pieces, in batches, return to the kiln for a second firing at 1,250 degrees. Between all the stages of design, firing, and drying, each batch of pieces takes between fifteen days and three weeks to be finalized.

Allow yourself to fail

After this step, the artist follows a strict protocol. "I put down my piece, ask myself what it says to me, what it does to me," he says. "I spontaneously note down what goes through my mind." From this comes the name of the piece and an associated, often offbeat, text. The artist, who says he doesn't convey a message with his sculptures, allows himself to "cast a mischievous eye on each piece," and to miss.

Next to one of them, titled "Fish in amazement," is written: "The grouper is pouting. The stingray is smiling. The catfish is proud of its whiskers. The remora is clingy. The goldfish is bored in its bowl. Maybe not all fish feel everything the way we do."

The exhibition, which is free, will remain open to the public until June 7, every day except Sunday, from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The artist will be present on Friday, June 6, starting at 6:30 p.m., at the L'app'Art gallery, for a discussion with visitors.