Sculptor Bernard Rives
The Unexpected Journey
Originally from Carcassonne, France, Bernard Rives completed his studies at the University of Photography in Cologne. He later settled in Barcelona, where he worked as a photographer for internationally renowned advertising agencies. Alongside his main professional activity, he began spontaneously creating sculptures of female bodies, later developing them at a larger scale in clay and wood. During this period, he won first prize from the Paul Ricard Foundation and decided to devote himself fully to sculpture, inspired by dynamic, free-spirited women. Since then, he has exhibited his work in Spain, where he lives, France and elsewhere around the world.
The importance of the nude
Bernard Rives considers the nude a symbol of freedom. After centuries in which human bodies were often concealed under religious and social constraints, his sculptures express an irrepressible vitality through movement. By balancing volume with the sensual, stylised beauty of the nude body, he conveys emotion with immediacy. Humour, transgression and controversy all appear within a body of work in which the grace of the female form remains central.
The sculptures
Spontaneous, optimistic and energetic, Bernard Rives creates his sculptures using two approaches. Some are cast using the centuries-old lost-wax bronze process, then polished, hand-patinated, numbered and signed. Others are made with high-performance materials also used in racing yachts and surfboards—resin, fiberglass and polyurethane varnish—which give them lightness and resistance to demanding weather conditions.
Women and animal life are among his preferred subjects. Guided by the character of his materials, his essential art is defined by highly simplified lines and an airy sense of balance. Each creation carries a feeling of movement, as if caught in flight. Every sculpture emerges as an essential form, a silhouette expanding freely through space.