Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey & Pierre Matter
JEAN-PIERRE ROC-ROUSSEY & PIERRE MATTER
Préface 2014 has been a fantastic year for us at Opera Gallery as we celebrate our 20th anniversary. To end this year of celebrations, and in honor of our 20th anniversary, we are excited to present Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey and Pierre Matter, and to once again welcome back the extremely creative Joe Spinelli for an exciting collaboration that marries art and fashion. The sci-fi filled worlds of Pierre Matter are something quite unique to the artist. Stemming from his childhood imaginings, Matter’s works practically walk out from his cognitive conjuring into a proposed reality of mechanic/organic Hybrid creations. The evolution of mechanical reliance has progressed so rapidly, that it has hindered mankind as much as it has helped us to progress. Speaking of humanity’s reliance on our mechanised world - be it external or integrated to man – technology and machinery have become so essential to mankind’s survival that it is practically inherent, built into us as an extension of our mortal being. Roc-Roussey’s series on Messengers presents in baroque aesthetics a realm of imagined figures that dominate their canvas’, graceful figures cascade across natural landscapes; vibrantly dressed subjects test the bounds of realistic proportion with slender, elongated torsos that lead down to generously exaggerated hips and limbs. Mythical legends dance around their confines, Goddesses recline in their surroundings while Huntresses forage the wilderness atop noble steeds and armored elephants. Roc-Roussey’s figures perform like sirens, tempting their viewers to come in closer and gaze upon their beauty. After the success of the previous collaboration with Raffles Institute of Design, Opera Gallery has once again invited Mr Joe Spinelli; principal and programme director of Raffles Design Institute, to create a series of ten garments aligned to the styles and aesthetics of Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey and Pierre Matter, these garments will be debuted exclusively at the opening of the exhibition.
Gilles Dyan Founder and Chairman Opera Gallery Group
Stéphane Le Pelletier Director Asia Pacific Opera Gallery
JEAN-PIERRE ROC-ROUSSEY & PIERRE MATTER
Jean-Pierre
Roc-Roussey
Born near Paris, France, in 1951. Has been a member of the Figurative Art Critic. Member of the Salon d’Automne Art Critic Society since 1988. Currently lives and works between Paris and the South of France. Awards Town of Pontoise award, France Town of Colombes award, France First prize for portrait, Deauville, France Town of La Rochelle award, France Charente-Maritime Regional Council award (1993), France Town of Taverny award (1992), France Paris fairs Salon des Indépendants (The Independent Artist’s Fair) Salon des Artistes Français (French Artists’ Fair) Salon d’Automne (Autumn Fair) Salon Comparaisons Exhibitions Permanently exhibited at Opera Gallery Group: Paris, Geneva, Monaco, London, New York, Miami, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Dubai.
2014
The Woman, the Myth, the Mystery, Opera Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2013
Apsaras, Opera Gallery, Paris, France
2012
Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey & Nicola Rosini di Santi, Opera Gallery, Singapore Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey & Nicola Rosini di Santi, Opera Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2011
Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey & Inbar Tolla, Opera Gallery, Singapore
2010
Lita Cabellut & Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey, Opera Gallery, Dubai, UAE Guest of honour, L’art sans temps, Théoule-sur-Mer, France
2009
Viviane Cisinski & Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey, Opera Gallery, Hong Kong
2008
Johanne Corno & Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey, Opera Gallery, New York, USA Ordrupgaard Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark Jean-François Larrieu, Mauro Corda & Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey, Opera Gallery, Seoul, Korea Sport in Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China Sport in Art, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China Sport in Art, Gallery of Luxun Art Academy, Shenyang, China Sport in Art, RCM The Museum of Modern Art, Nanjing, China
2007
Sport in Art, Art Museum of Guangzhou Art Academy, Guangzhou, China Sport in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey, Opera Gallery, Paris, France
2006
Lita Cabellut & Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey, Opera Gallery, London, UK Opera Gallery, Venice, Italy
2005
Opera Gallery, Paris, France Opera Gallery, Hong Kong
2002
Opera Gallery, Paris, France Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
2000
Galerie l’Orée du Rêve, La Rochelle, France Municipal Art exhibitions, Pontoise; Taverny; Bouffemont; La Rochelle, France
1998
Palais des Congrès, Royan, France La Grande Arche, Paris, France
1997
Château d’Homécourt, Homécourt, France
1996
Galerie Béatrice Soulié, Paris, France Rétrospective, Société Générale, Paris, France Centre Pablo Picasso, Nancy, France
1995
Galerie Catherine Guérard, Paris, France Hybern Castle, Prague, Czech Republic Château de Saran, Chouilly, France
1994
Rundetaarn, Copenhagen, Denmark Festival hall, Biarritz, France
1993
Dong Ha Gallery, Seoul, Korea Poo Yong Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1991
Santillana, Spain French Embassy, Washington, USA Mons Museum, Mons, Belgium Town halls in the 18th, 9th and 6th arrondissements, Paris, France
1990
Tretakiov Gallery, Moscow, Russia Saint Petersburg, Russia
1989
Galerie Beauvau, Paris, France 3
JEAN-PIERRE ROC-ROUSSEY & PIERRE MATTER
The Messengers
U
sing art to present dreamlike characters to the world – such is Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey’s special gift, enhanced by the artist’s technical virtuosity. In the artist’s latest series, The Messengers, the characters come alive, bursting from the canvas, poised on the backs of black and gold elephants; they leap and dance, these celestial, black magicians, arms stretching out to protect their precious missives from destruction. They tear into space, earth, water, and fire; triumphant over any obstacles, these messengers overcome the insurmountable. Their gentle countenances and wraith-like movements emanate a sense of reliability and unyielding loyalty. These are Messengers with important orders to deliver; emissaries from another world accompanied by bluefeathered birds. These blue-feathered passerines are ambassadors of the ethereal messengers. Blue birds, with reference to the Chinese culture, have always been seen as fairies, immortal and heavenly messengers bearing omens. Like all things avian, the bird provides as a metaphor for liberation. Impervious to earthly constraints as simple as gravity, the sapphire creatures are able to seek havens, inaccessible to humans. Possibly, these azure birds could act as a motivation for humans to free themselves and find inner solace. In ancient mythology, messengers were often women: the Celts depicted them as incredibly beautiful, with their nomadic tendencies striking feelings of love, longing, and melancholy. For the ancient Greeks, the messenger of the Gods was a Goddess named Iris. Iris was imagined as winged, swift, and nimble, with her beauty synonymous to the rainbow she personified. Unraveling a work of Roc-Roussey’s, it is similar to experiencing a spiritual journey, like gazing on a Chinese “dream stone”, deciphering a landscape or journey in the stone and thereby inheriting immortality. To set one’s gaze on a Roc-Roussey is to venture into a world of luxuriously exuberant colours. His paintings spill with power and vigour, a breath-taking dynamism. Roc-Roussey’s vibrant, figurative creatures radiate a sense of immortality, seducing his viewers into the scenes of his artworks.
Such vitality is a result of the scintillating personality his characters exude, exploding from an imaginary backdrop drenched in light. The unique quality of his style of large, massive bodies of mythological subjects, enigmatic visages, flamboyant colours of both scenery and eccentric costumes, elegant and graceful poses, render Roc-Roussey as a quintessentially inventive artist. Nevertheless, his virtuosity is constantly seeking; searching for aspects of inventiveness, strength, and audacity. Roc-Roussey’s oeuvre proves to be spectacularly individualistic as the artist delves into neoclassic dreams and beauty with a refreshing surrealist edge. These elements combine to make Roc-Roussey a quintessentially original creator. But his virtuosity is constantly seeking, always worrying... It feeds on invention, on strength and audacity. But this artwork is solitary indeed, and the artist is forever questioning himself while he ponders the beautiful, the dreamlike. His method, a mastering of lines and volumes, combined with the spontaneous genius of his drips and drops, the perfect splash, are Roc-Roussey’s immediately recognizable signatures. His uplifting and optimistic style is in total contrast with the man’s melancholy demeanor, his eelings of inadequacy when facing the world. The sumptuous creations of his life’s work, filled with such extraordinary vivaciousness, stem from his rejection of a realistic world vision. His paintings echo the method of a true dreamer. Faced with a world in which the thirst for pleasure and wealth compete with a desire for peace and harmony, and where this constant duality triggers an incessant, diffused anguish and uncertainty, we are assailed with contradictory messages delivered by prophets resembling machines that are more and more sophisticated; machines that turn us into beings who are perpetually alarmed, living in cities where the future remains uncertain, haunted by lingering violence. To escape from the increasing anxiety of metropolitan societies, we are drawn to the escapism offered in Roc-Roussey’s works. In his series The Messengers, Roc-Roussey’s empyreal subjects merge heaven, sea, and earth, transforming reveries into works of art.
Grande messagère jaune Oil on canvas • 162 x 130 cm - 63.8 x 51.2 in. • Price on request
Claudie Roc-Roussey 5
Messagère rouge au sabre noir Oil on canvas • 195 x 130 cm - 76.8 x 51.2 in. • Price on request
Messagère bleue au dragon d’or Oil on canvas • 195 x 130 cm - 76.8 x 51.2 in. • Price on request 7
Messagère cavalière en rouge Oil on canvas • 130 x 195 cm - 51.2 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
Messagère à l’éléphant traversant le fleuve Oil on canvas • 114 x 195 cm - 44.9 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
Messagère au message caché Oil on canvas • 170 x 60 cm - 66.9 x 23.6 in. • Price on request 9
Petite messagère en jaune Oil on canvas • 60 x 60 cm - 23.6 x 23.6 in. • Price on request
Ange messagère au caftan rose Oil on canvas • 100 x 100 cm - 39.4 x 39.4 in. • Price on request
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Messagère cavalière ailée Oil on canvas • 130 x 195 cm - 51.2 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
Messagère de la Casa Azul Oil on canvas • 195 x 130 cm - 76.8 x 51.2 in. • Price on request
Messagère au cheval rétif Oil on canvas • 114 x 195 cm - 44.9 x 76.8 in. • Price on request 13
Messagère au cheval bleu Oil on canvas • 114 x 195 cm - 44.9 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
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Messagère cavalière Iris Oil on canvas • 150 x 195 cm - 59.1 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
Ange messagère aux ailes d’or Oil on canvas • 130 x 130 cm - 51.2 x 51.2 in. • Price on request
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Messagère de guerre Oil on canvas • 150 x 195 cm - 59.1 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
Messagère bleue à la flèche Oil on canvas • 170 x 60 cm - 66.9 x 23.6 in. • Price on request 19
Messagère bleue au dragon d’or Oil on canvas • 195 x 130 cm - 76.8 x 51.2 in.
Messagère à l’éléphant caparaçonné Oil on canvas • 150 x 195 cm - 59.1 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
Messagère à l’éléphant bleu Oil on canvas • 150 x 195 cm - 59.1 x 76.8 in. • Price on request
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JEAN-PIERRE ROC-ROUSSEY & PIERRE MATTER
Pierre
Matter
Born in Haut-Rhin departement, France, in 1964 Currently lives and works in Buhl, France Awards 1993 1995 1996 1997 1999
Gold medal at the Mondial-arts Salon, Avignon, France 1st Prize of Sculpture of the European Council Award, Strasbourg, France 1st Prize for new technics, Couthenans, France 1st Prize of Sculpture, Luxeuil, France Paul Ricard Foundation’s Prize of Sculpture, Bandol, France
Public commissions “La Rencontre”, T2l, Colmar, France 1992 “Sarajevo”, Collection d’Esch, Luxembourg 1994 “La Genèse”, Parc des Ballons des Vosges, Munster, France 1995 “Naissance en forêt”, La Verte Vallée, Munster, France 1995 “Ancêtres”, MGEN, Hyères, France 1996 “Les Gardiens du Temple” , MGEN, Les Trois-Epis, France 1996 “R.G.”, Délémont, Switzerland 1998 “Cause toujours”, MGEN, Hyères, France 1998 “La Famille”, MGEN, France 2000 “Entre ciel et terre”, Adidas, Yokohama, Japan 2002 “Bull Spirit”, Shanghai Sculpture Space, Shanghai, China 2005 “Evolution Totem”, Cofime, Colmar, France 2006 “Tribute to Wilma”, Adidas, China 2007
Exhibitions Opera Gallery - Longines Master Slam, Hong Kong 2014 AFA Gallery SoHo, New York, USA Opera Gallery, Singapore 2013
AFA Gallery SoHo, New York, USA Opera Gallery, Singapore Galerie Clarus, Sologne, France Château de Belcastel, Aveyron, France La Boîte noire, Tours, France L’Art au quotidien, Tours, France
2012
Opera Gallery, Paris, France Galerie Hugues Pénot, Pornichet, France
2011
Opera Gallery, Dubai, UAE Opera Gallery, Singapore
2010
St’Art, Strasbourg, France
2009
Opera Gallery, Singapore
2008
Opera Gallery, New York, USA Sport in Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China Sport in Art, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China Sport in Art, Gallery of Luxun Art Academy, Shenyang, China Sport in Art, RCM The Museum of Modern Art, Nanjing, China Contemporary Art fair, Shanghai, China
2007
Sport in Art, Art Museum of Guangzhou Art Academy, Guangzhou, China Sport in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China Annual Shanghai International Exhibition of Sculptures, Shanghai, China Opera Gallery, Singapore Fantasmagory, Epinal, France Contemporary Art fair, Shanghai, China
2006
Espace 110, Illzach, France Contemporary Art fair, Shanghai, China Opera Gallery, Hong Kong
2005
Shanghai Sculpture Space, Shanghai, China Contemporary Art fair, Shanghai, China
2004
The New Yorker Magazine, New York, USA
2003
Opera Gallery, New York, USA
2002
Tokyo Bunkamura Gallery Museum, Tokyo, Japan Tenjin Salaria Event Space, Fukuoka, Japan Plaza, Osaka, Japan Loft Gallery Museum, Nagoya, Japan Red Brick Wearhouse Gallery, Yokohama, Japan
2001
Opera Gallery, Singapore
2000
Radio House, Paris, France Esch Theatre Gallery, Luxembourg Opera Gallery, New York, USA
1999
Aktuel Gallery, Germany European Council, Strasbourg, France Canne’s Gallery, France
1998
Daune Gallery, Paris, France
1997
European Council, Strasbourg, France Paul Ricard Space, Bandol, France Le Virage Gallery, Délémont, Switzerland
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JEAN-PIERRE ROC-ROUSSEY & PIERRE MATTER
Pierre Matter’s statement L
ike many other people from my generation, the omnipresence of science, machines, and more generally, computers, social networks and as a result, the growing impact of high technology on the entire organic world, is at the heart of my thought-process and a large focus of my artistic work. Hybridization, the seemingly endless possibilities offered up by genetic science, nanotechnology and its application, have become our daily bread. It is difficult to escape the world of machines, and this hyper-efficient world in which we live is such that it fills my entire artistic space. It is, therefore, no accident that my masters and sources of inspiration include Enki Bilal, David Lynch, Hans Ruedi Giger, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Juan Antonio Giménez, and Jules Verne, all people whose works revolve around an increasingly imaginary world where humans and robots rub shoulders, or even mate.
It is also no accident that many of my latest creations depict “ocean life”, like the hybrid of a hammerhead shark-submarine missile, because even our oceans have been affected by the explosion of mechanization and industrialization, inversing the historical balance between predators, automatically placing us at the peak of the food chain. As an artist, I sort of feel like a sponge that has absorbed everything surrounding it – materials and concepts from my time – and which, after a more or less lengthy process of fermentation and settling, offers up a cocktail of questions and, sometimes, answers, a mixture of poetry and beauty; when the need for light has made itself felt. It is the challenge I take on with each new work. The spectator alone holds the key; they are the ones, with their emotions, who finally decide whether the work’s message has been understood.
Looking for the Future, 2009 Bronze, edition of 8 • 96 x 137 x 48 cm - 37.8 x 53.9 x 18.9 in. • Price on request
Pierre Matter
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Serendipity, 2012 Bronze, copper and various metals, unique piece • 120 x 90 x 35 cm - 47.2 x 35.4 x 13.8 in. • Price on request
Minotorero, 2014 Bronze, edition of 8 • 88 x 41 x 31 cm - 34.6 x 16.1 x 12.2 in. • Price on request 27
The Little Big Thinker, 2014 Bronze, edition of 8 • 190 x 85 x 42 cm - 74.8 x 33.5 x 16.5 in. • Price on request
Le Petit Penseur, 2013 Bronze, edition of 8 • 32 x 21 x 10 cm - 12.6 x 8.3 x 3.9 in. • Price on request
Bright Mama, 2013 Bronze, stainless steel and aluminium, unique piece • 98 x 75 x 42 cm - 38.6 x 29.5 x 16.5 in. • Price on request 29
Fighting Bull, 2008 Bronze, edition of 8 • 80 x 80 x 32 cm - 31.5 x 31.5 x 12.6 in. • Price on request
Salto Mortale, 2014 Bronze, edition of 8 • 156 x 145 x 65 cm - 61.4 x 57.1 x 25.6 in. • Price on request
Jumping Bull, 2008 Bronze, edition of 8 • 55 x 82 x 22 cm - 21.6 x 32.3 x 8.7 in. • Price on request
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Hammershark Prototype, 2014 Stainless steel, steel, various metals and glass, unique piece • 138 x 268 x 98 cm - 54.3 x 105.5 x 38.6 in. • Price on request
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Le Cheval de l’Apocalypse, 2012 Bronze, edition of 8 • 85 x 35 x 30 cm - 33.5 x 13.8 x 11.8 in. • Price on request
Les Liens, 2008
Pegasus, 2010 Bronze, edition of 8 • 115 x 115 x 38 cm - 45.3 x 45.3 x 15 in. • Price on request
Bronze, edition of 8 • 104 x 25 x 25 cm - 40.9 x 9.8 x 9.8 in. • Price on request 35
Poisson œil, 2004 Bronze, edition of 8 • 60 x 50 x 20 cm - 23.6 x 19.7 x 7.9 in. • Price on request
Antagonisme, 2014 Are You Talking to Me?, 2014
Bronze and copper, unique piece • 55 x 65 x 14 cm - 21.6 x 25.6 x 5.5 in. • Price on request
Copper, bronze and various metals, unique piece • 168 x 123 x 77 cm - 66.1 x 48.4 x 30.3 in. • Price on request 37
And the Winner Is, 2009 Bronze, edition of 8 • 17 x 60 x 12 cm - 6.7 x 23.6 x 4.7 in. • Price on request
Little Black Tiger, 2014 Bronze, stainless steel and aluminium, unique piece • 173 x 175 x 61 cm - 68.1 x 68.9 x 24 in. • Price on request
L’Expérience du miroir, 2013 Bronze, edition of 8 • 22 x 31 x 11 cm - 8.7 x 12.2 x 4.3 in. • Price on request
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