“I like to work on models that are not in the canons of beauty”
Five years ago, it was another artist, the Stéphane sculptor Philippe Buil, who took as a model the bust of footballer Loïc Perrin.
Five years ago, Loïc Perrin lent you his body to make a bust. You then produced five sculptures. Can we still see them today?
“There is a bust at Loïc Perrin’s, one on deposit in the mayor’s office of Saint-Etienne, two with collectors who bought it privately and one that I loaned to the Musée des Verts. Before the Covid-19 epidemic, we were supposed to inaugurate the new museum exhibition dedicated to training with Loïc Perrin, but it could not take place and, since then, the bust has been confined to the museum! “
Loïc Perrin announced the end of his career a few weeks ago. Haven’t you thought about molding something to mark the occasion?
“I like to be against the media, I am an artist, my work needs to be born from a good meeting, but I will see Loïc again with pleasure. And then this experience with him allowed me to make the cast of a Canadian! He had come across the ASSE film which had retraced the entire making of the work. I spoke with him through WhatsApp. It was fun. I ordered his mold from a teacher in Quebec who sent it to me in France. Once the bust was executed, he returned to Canada. “
“Gladiators of the year 2000”
At what price could we get these busts of the Saint-Etienne footballer?
“The model was 5,000 euros, knowing that 10% was donated to the ASSE Cœur-Vert association. This was one of the conditions for the project that we had set with Loïc and Roland Romeyer, president of the club. “
Was it the first time you drew inspiration from the body of a footballer?
“Yes, I had made sculptures of metal lace fencing masks covered with 24 carat gold leaf for the 105 years of the International Fencing Federation, but no athlete’s bust. After that, I made one for Élodie Clouvel, shortly after she won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016 in modern pentathlon. This was based on a request from the Stéphanoises association which had presented an exhibition “Stéphanoises from yesterday to today to tomorrow”. Its president suggested that I install the bust of Loïc Perrin at the heart of the exhibition. I refused, arguing that among all these women, there were many athletic bodies that I could sculpt. Élodie Clouvel lent herself to the game. I used for her bust the same technique as for Loïc Perrin, molding in plaster, then in sand and finally the metals melted in the sand mold with a hydrogen generator . I like this phenomenon of leaving the drops of steel in the mold. Gout has a life of its own. There are only unique pieces due to this technique. “
Élodie Clouvel, Loïc Perrin, do you need to have a certain musculature to become your model?
“I like to work on models that are not in the canons of beauty. Following a childhood accident, Loïc Perrin has one shoulder higher than the other. You don’t get a symmetrical model, it gives life to the sculpture. These people are gladiators of the year 2000. “
Interview by Muriel CATALANO