‘The sculptures seem to emit a subtle light, distinguishing them from the flatness of tradition’

 

Nathan David French (Wales,1983) was born to Welsh and Anglo-Indian parents. French pursued an education at Central Saint Martins; his creative talents blossomed in the London art school, where art was conceived to include the strange and the wicked, rather than being conformed to social norms or the strict demands of the fashion world.

 

His free, imaginative designs and meticulous attention to the human shape lead him to create wearable art later seen at Paris and London fashion weeks, and worn by iconic performers such as Björk and Lady Gaga. Throughout his practice French became interested in the representation of human bodies; he would experiment with bold, other-worldly textures and colors, then grounding them in earthy sculptural forms.

 

French references the gods and deities depicted in statues from Greek antiquity. He questions these idealized bodies in his own sculptural forms, that seem to want to break free from their caste; they expose human fragility, and exude subjectivity and diversity over that which is to represent ‘man’ or ‘god’.

 

In his constant search for texture and innovation, each phase of French’s career brings on a new material to explore, from feathers or wax to his new obsession, crystals. He grows the crystals in huge baths, drowning his sculptures to allow the natural process of crystallization. In this way, the artistic process has a mind of its own, creating subtle hues invented by natural elements. French sees himself less of an artist and more of a chemist; he slightly alters the process to achieve the desired results, making each sculpture a unique rendition of nature in our surroundings.

 

 

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