Sculptures

Latest Hand Crafted Sculptures

My sculpture work includes bowls/vessels, busts, animals and human figures.
I do the original work in artist-plasticine/ceramic clay.

Bronze Bowl- and Vessel collection (Animals)

The inspiration for The Bronze Bowl and Vessel Collection comes from a historical tradition that many cultures have practised through the ages to fashion artistic vessels/bowls using bronze. These range, for example, from the “Singing Bowls” (Tibet, Japan, Nepal, etc.), the bronze bowls from the Ming dynasty and bowls/vessels from ancient Greek and Roman times to bronze bowls with Egyptian motives (found in 1849) in northern Iraq. His Bronze Bowl and Vessel Collection mostly features “less familiar animals”. Each item represents a metaphor and has a story/fable to it.

The Bronze Bowl and Vessel Collection was first exhibited in 2005 in Stellenbosch, South Africa, at the well-known Dorpstraat Gallery, and also 2 pieces at the Everard Read Gallery in Cape Town, and others. The bronzes are limited to 15 Editions with each piece having the artist’s name and foundry stamp; and can be ordered from the artist.

The Pangolin Visitor II (New)

This sculpture is the second one after the first limited (15 editions) sold out. “Solitary animal, with a thick skin. “, …” Introvert” and nocturnal. Mysterious and amazing creature – with strong paws and claws. Can walk on four or two legs, maintaining balance with its tail and front part of its body. The Temminck’s Ground pangolin is one of the 4x African Pangolin species. Its more pointy scales are quite distinctive, in comparison to the “flatter” scales in other pangolin species. When threatened, they can curl into a tight ball, exposing their sharp scales to their predators. Latin: “Pholidota” (/fɒlɪˈdoʊtə/). This very gentle and noble animal is presently on the highly endangered list. There are eight species of pangolins, four found in Africa and four in Asia. The amazing Pangolin for me, is metaphor to a specific human character type: “hard on the outside, soft on the inside, noble and gentle.”

Looking-Up

The influences and exploration in this series relates to an “angst”, a “shaking” that is happening worldwide. There is a worldwide anticipation of something that’s coming that we somehow cannot quite explain, combined with a disappointment in political leaders and the materialistic. In these uncertain times, man will hopefully start to look beyond the physical and “upwards” to fill the “God-shaped” vacuum that is in its design. However, consumerism and the lies that the worldwide mass media is feeding us, blinding us from the truth, make it difficult to … “look up”.

Performers

He recently started to incorporate the human form as metaphor in his artwork – exploring the influence of mass media and “social engineering” on the global population, while the new “Performers” sculpture series also digs into these themes. With the “Performers”, Francois aims to invite the viewer to play with and interact with the artwork, much like figurine toys, to discover further meaning and metaphors. This is in contrast with sculptural artworks that sometimes have a very “static” feel or a “don’t touch” stigma attached to them, as often found in old museums. With this series, he attempts to challenge this mind-set, bringing the sculpture “closer” to the observer.