ROCHETTE

JEAN-MARC ROCHETTE LA DERNIÈRE REINE, Casterman 2022 Bronze patina, edition 1 of 8, produced in 2019 by the Barthélémy Art foundry, accompanied by its preparatory stage in Indian ink and certificate of origin 23 × 13.5 × 23 cm(9.06 × 5.12 × 9.06 in.) Preparatory stage: 29.6 × 41.5 cm Hidden in a cave deep in the Vercors mountains, the statue of the Bear, the last queen, is an immemorial secret that has been passed down in the Édouard family for thousands of years. Shaped and venerated by early man, it has the simplicity and power of sacred statuary. An intuitive, primitive art form, Rochette has sought to rediscover the codes of this statuette. The lot includes the bronze and preparatory drawing. Like the American cartoonist Richard Corben, I started sculpting my characters several years ago, to be able to capture them from all angles and better visualize their shadows. Unlike drawing and its abstractions, sculpture is above all a physical art form, where the solution to problems lies in touch and the hand. J.-M.R.