Why is modelling clay still used today?
A look at a medium often relegated to childhood memories - and why it deserves a place in contemporary art.
I'm often asked this question, and I understand. Modelling clay conjures up images of school, of spilt gouache, of stained fingers. But that's precisely what interests me: a medium that everyone has touched, that doesn't impose a hierarchy between artist and public.
In the workshop, no one is afraid of doing things wrong. The material can be corrected and started again. It's a medium that's democratic, tactile, and paradoxically serious - because it demands a slowness and patience that the digital image has unlearned.
Today my work explores bas-relief, volume and pointillism. These are pieces that require several days in the studio, photographed in natural light. Contemporary modelling clay has nothing to envy from bronze or terracotta - just a different relationship with time.
