Statement
As subject matter, I look to the ever developing urban landscape and phenomenon of progress, a shared human experience, relevant to the present and bound by history. I treat the mix of architectural ornament and engineered forms, exposed layers of earth, machinery, industrial fragments and discarded byproduct equally as iconography of advancing civilization. I am fascinated by the simultaneous accumulation of both new and old which overlaps itself as decades pass.
This visual information manifests itself as sculptural objects made along two veins. One is made from piles and stacks of bits and parts, sometimes layered like detritus, improvised and spontaneous. I prefer to remove what is immediately recognizable and use casually abstracted fragments to give the appearance of dismantled and reorganized.
The second vein includes a more specific reference to the wheel or gear, a ubiquitous symbol of engineering technology. Once built, however, I am presenting them as immobile, re-contextualized as trophies on display. Hard edge construction like steel pipes but translated into terra cotta, giving them a softer and more human identity.
— Nicolas Darcourt
Bio