Xavier Dambrine, sculptor
Born in 1964, live and works in Paris.
Studies
1982-1987 École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Awards and Recognition
1989 Lauréat du Grand Prix de Sculpture de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris
1991 Lauréat du Prix de la Fondation Princesse Grace de Monaco
1994 Lauréat du Prix Arts de la Fondation Charles Oulmont
Personal exhibitions
1990 Institut de France – Paris
1991 Théâtre municipal – Brive
1992 Conseil Régional des Pays de Loire – Nantes
1995 Philippe Jaeger – Paris
1997 Independent Insurance – Paris
1999 Jean-Marc Peyrouzet – Paris
2002 Galerie ICI – Paris
2004 Galerie ICI – Paris
2005 Orangerie du jardin du Luxembourg – Paris
2006 Zen Factory – Paris
2006 Espace Point Barre – Lille
2006 Galerie Angerer – Vomperbach, Autriche
2007 Galerie Emeraude – Le Touquet
2007 Livonie d’Hauteville – Paris
2008 Galerie Nicolas Plescoff – Paris
2009 Galerie Emeraude – Le Touquet
2011 Galerie Emeraude – Le Touquet
2012 Livart – Paris
2012 Artfiler Gallery – Bruxelle, Belgique
2012 Galerie Alex Kacem – Paris
2013 Galerie Emeraude, Le Touquet
2014 Bergsen & Bergsen Gallery, Istambul
2014 Livart, Paris
2015 Centre Max Juclier, Villeneuve-la-Garenne
2015 Hôtel de l’Industrie, Paris
2015 Livart, Paris
2016 Mayfair Gallery, Londres
2017 Biennale de Solgne
2018 Livart, Paris
2018 Art Outdoors Experience, Parc de Saint-Cloud
2019 Livart, Paris
2021 Centre d’Art et d’Histoire, Cruas
2022 Fonds Culturel de l’Ermitage, Garches
Public orders
1991 Musée de Brive : acquisition d’une sculpture en bois
1996 Monnaie de Paris : édition de deux bas-reliefs en bronze
1996 Ministère des Affaires Étrangères : Monument aux Soldats Français morts en Bosnie (Sarajevo, Ambassade de France), fonte de fer
1997 U.N.E.S.C.O. : réalisation du Bouddha, sculpture monumentale en bois
1998 Eglise de Meythet (Haute-Savoie) : réalisation d’un Christ en croix, bois
2000 Verdun – Haudainville (Meuse) : réalisation du Monument aux Soldats Européens Morts dans les Balkans, fonte de fer
2006 Eglise Saint-Denys-du-Saint-Sacrement (Paris) : Christ en bronze
2020 Paris: Nébuleuse Rouge, résine époxy, commande privée
2020 Paris: Coureuse Bosniaque, fonte d’aluminium, commande privée
2022 Mauves sur Huisne: la Dame de Mauves, bois, commande privée
Xavier Dambrine is a sculptor born in 1964 who lives and works in Paris
After studying at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, he moved to the 11th arrondissement, in a former metallurgy workshop. He first worked in wood: monumental works in tribute to medieval statuary, groups of expressionist figures united by the same dramatic tension. Then, he found the clay modeling he had widely practiced at the school. His hand searches the clay or caresses it to form bodies in tension, dancers crossed by the vital movement, woven of organic flows. Most of these carvings are cast in bronze.
He then attacks the lead, metal used by many artists in the eighteenth century, a little forgotten since. In this work, he uses all kinds of techniques: casting, welding, partial reshaping, cutting, stamping to carve shapes inspired by his research in quantum physics: « My figures are crossed by flows that create them, dress them, transform them. . Currents of particles, gusts of wind, waves of emotion interfere with the flesh, are superimposed on human forms. A weft effect is emerging where the body is not only individual but receptacle of a world: microcosm where the universe and its forces seek to express themselves, second skin on that of man. A galaxy in the belly”. For larger sculptures, he takes the aluminum with the same techniques.
Finally, he returns to the wood he works in the middle of the Massif Central forest. He then uses only one tool: the big woodcutter’s chainsaw with which he cuts everything from roughing to the last detail. These are characters, « Hermits » or « Angels » sprouting from the trunk and its branches. Shapes of lacerated and vibrating wood that reveal both the tension of the tree and the impulses that animate the soul of these figures. A porous surface where the interior and exterior mingle in a rhapsodic dance movement.
Xavier Dambrine has been awarded with the Sculpture Grand Prix of the Academy of Fine Arts, the Monaco Princess Grace Foundation Prize, and the Charles Oulmont Foundation Arts Prize.
Xavier Dambrine has made several monumental commissions including the Monument to the French Soldiers Dead in Bosnia (Sarajevo), the Monument to the French Soldiers Dead in the Balkans (Verdun), two Christ for the Church and a monumental wooden Buddha for the U.N.E.S.C.O (Paris). Also numerous private commissions.