Jean Briac
Jean Briac (1980, France) has lived and worked in Barcelona since 2005. After six years learning the skill of stonework in different regions across France (Compagnonnage), and acquiring valuable knowledge in workshops and building work dedicated to the restoration of historical monuments, Jean had the privilege of coming to Barcelona to participate in the greatest work of Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia, as well as the restoration of the Hospital de Sant Pau (Domenech i Muntaner).
With 18 years of experience in stonework and a special preference for marble, today he is dedicated to his own creations, clearly inspired by the organic world around him, and especially anchored in the principles of sculpture.
Guiding the limits of this robust material towards an unusual delicacy, he searches for a relative thinness. He achieves this through the use of portable electrical machinery and the tools of industrial diamond work, especially designed for stone.
2019 - COLLECT Art Fair
2018 - Collective Exhibition, Galeria Rubén Torres. Barcelona Spain
2014 - Special mention (2nd place), Barbat i Miracle National Craft Award, Valls, Catalonia, Spain.
2013 - Exhibition A-canto in Formista, Barcelona. Spain
2002 - First in the regional prize and national finalist in the contest SEMA organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Trades for apprentices in France
Jean Briac
Jean Briac (1980, France) has lived and worked in Barcelona since 2005. After six years learning the skill of stonework in different regions across France (Compagnonnage), and acquiring valuable knowledge in workshops and building work dedicated to the restoration of historical monuments, Jean had the privilege of coming to Barcelona to participate in the greatest work of Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia, as well as the restoration of the Hospital de Sant Pau (Domenech i Muntaner).
With 18 years of experience in stonework and a special preference for marble, today he is dedicated to his own creations, clearly inspired by the organic world around him, and especially anchored in the principles of sculpture.
Guiding the limits of this robust material towards an unusual delicacy, he searches for a relative thinness. He achieves this through the use of portable electrical machinery and the tools of industrial diamond work, especially designed for stone.
Pyrite Bowl
Pyrite bowl is founded on the parallelism between the real mineralogical formation of the Pyrite and my own process to sculpt bowls.
The steps to begin the carving process starts with a rugged block of marble with a rather cubic form, gradually cutting the stone I look to obtain a new surface, point or edge that will remain until the final piece. Once again I cut new parts in order to discover bit by bit, the final parts of the envisioned shape. In it's final form, the bowl is presented touching the place it lays on, from three points. For me this surface could be the ground itself, the earth materialised. The cubes underneath are the intermediary step. An apparently unorganised mass. The texture, lightly rugged gives a grey colour to the cubes, highlighting the variation with the upper part, a perfect polished surface deeply dark.
In “this” picture of the piece, we view the three elements together, the earth materialised by the ground, the rock represented by the cubes without apparent order but remembering the pyrite, and the human by his intervention on the polished bowl. In this case, my inspiration is based on nature and the amazing result of the pyrite formation. A cubic form common for the human, but so unatural it creates a particular fascination for me. How to materialise a heavy constitution, whilst respecting my vision of a light and delicate bowl. That was my challenge with this piece. To offer the sensation of a cube with the minimum use of material as possible.