STEPHANE GUIRAN
Stephane Guiran, Seed II, crystal & bronze, 40 x 60 x 90 cm, 2015. Image courtesy of MARS Gallery
Stephane Guiran’s professional career began in graphic design and the tight line-work of that practice was reflected in his shift to sculpture in 2002. He had completed a yearlong residency in Barcelona, where he mastered the art of metallurgy, torturing and twisting steel into organic, elegant forms. But it did not take long for Guiran to turn from pure metallurgy to inspired alchemy. Since that time Guiran has moved on to become a global pres- ence with his sleek modernist constructions.
Gradually, his sleek steel structures were engulfed in crystal and glass, becoming more and more organic as time passed by. Hinting at calligraphy and Japanese haikus – as Guiran himself suggests, life; “sketched out in this plant alchemy that transmutes lead, silica and bronze into a path of lightness.”
His sculptures yielded seeds that in turn evoked new forms and new variations. The crystal seeds sprung new fruit; photographs and drawings soon joined the sculptures. Guiran was creating an entire world, one in which he was topographer and gardener, alchemist and magician. The results, vibrating with new life forms, seem to evoke a continual sense of growth.
