{"id":931764,"date":"2026-10-13T18:18:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/931764\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T18:18:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:18:26","slug":"cuts-imperfections-and-accidents-artist-pierre-guignard-likes-to-leave-traces-of-the-process-visible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/931764\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuts, imperfections and accidents: Artist Pierre Guignard likes to \u201cleave traces of the process visible\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The China-based sculptor and artist Pierre Guignard<\/a> started on paper and canvas, but over time has expanded more and more into wood, clay and ceramics. Of what? Well, it seems to be just about anything. Some of his sculptures take shape as houses and structures, others are figurative like the small schematic forms seen in Neolithic times, where hips, bellies and limbs are exaggerated and round. In this way, Pierre\u2019s work also takes on a child-like abandon, with crude \u2018ignorant-style\u2019 drawings making out complexions, faces and the patterns of clothing, mirroring the naive stylings of Basquiat. Using found materials such as scraps of wood, old paper, cardboard, fabric and wire, and combining them together with colouring done with oil sticks and acrylic paints, Pierre explains that he likes \u201cto leave traces of the process visible \u2013 the cuts, imperfections and accidents\u201d.<\/p>\n

Leaving room for spontaneity and unexpected results, Pierre nods to ordinary things like the mundanity of a child\u2019s drawing stuck to their parent\u2019s fridge. There\u2019s an immediate familiarity, which is reflected in Pierre\u2019s process. He creates \u201ccollage portraits of strangers\u201d that he spots on his way to his studio in Chengdu in China \u2013 he also pulls from personal memories, but he \u201crarely tries to tell the story directly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayfulness is something I always look for in my work. I like making things that have a slightly naive or strange side to them, and I hope they can make people smile or reconnect with something instinctive,\u201d says Pierre, who takes inspiration from Gaston Chaissac<\/a>, an artist who grew up in Pierre\u2019s area and whose \u2018modern rustic\u2019 style of raw colours and simple forms has influenced his own. Baring resemblance to outsider art through forms of folk objects and reappropriated materials, Pierre\u2019s work looks like it was unearthed from an ancient childhood, or plucked straight from your very own.<\/p>\n