Martine LABROT

Criticism

Sculpture-lover Martine Labrot has, since 2010, trained in different Visual Arts studios in order to perfect different modelling techniques, particularly hand-building, and creating ceramic objects by combining flat slabs of clay. Grogged clay, terra sigillata and paper clay hold no more secrets for her, and neither do the basic procedures involving patinas, slips, enameling or smoking. She still claims to be “searching” on an artistic level, but since 2014 has exhibited her work regularly in local Normandy salons, where the originality of her creations has been particularly noted. Even if Martine Labrot claims that her work is guided by instinct, and often takes inspiration from drawings to produce her sculptures, she does not hesitate to look to the great artists who revolutionised 20th century sculpture post Rodin. It is essentially in the work of masters such as Brancusi, Archipenko and Henry Moore that she manages to draw both the creative impetus and visual harmony that prevail in her pieces. Martine Labrot’s favourite themes are femininity and the life of society. Yet her work in eclectic: it is dark when she evokes death, humorous when she depicts whimsical characters, and fantastical when the supernatural overrides reality. The artist does not hesitate to feature the human figure in a multitude of approaches. The first, which is a complex conception, plays on visual abstraction and simplifying shapes characteristic to modern sculpture since Brancusi in a masterly interplay of interweaving shapes, through which harmony is achieved by way of geometric purity and simplicity. The other approaches are also paths of exploration for the artist, who plays at times on stylised figuration and hollow volumes, at others on non-finito, fragmentary depictions of the human body, and finally on a mannerist elongation of figures. As a tireless explorer of contemporary sculpture and a constant stylistic researcher, Martine Labrot offers us a wide variety of pieces that, beyond their mere formal representation, all share the power to deftly and boldly express the very essence of things. She conveys a captivating artistic reflection tinged with feeling and emotion.

Francine BUNEL-MALRAS, Historian of Art

Exhibitions

Du 26/06/2023 au 02/07/2023 : REGNEVILLE-SUR-MER : EXPOSITION MARTINE ET HERVE LABROT AU CHATEAU

Du 01/07/2022 au 10/07/2022 : BRICQUEBEC : EXPOSITION MARTINE ET HERVE LABROT A LA SALLE DU CHARTRIER

Du 13/08/2021 au 23/08/2021 : BRICQUEBEC : EXPOSITION MARTINE LABROT "SCULPTURES" A LA SALLE DU CHARTRIER

Du 28/06/2021 au 04/07/2021 : PORTBAIL : EXPOSITION MARTINE LABROT "SCULPTURES" A L'EGLISE NOTRE-DAME

Du 30/03/2019 au 14/04/2019 : CAEN : 92è SALON DES ARTISTES EN NORMANDIE A L'EGLISE SAINT-NICOLAS ET EGLISE VIEUX-SAINT-SAUVEUR

Du 04/10/2018 au 27/10/2018 : CAEN : EXPOSITION HEVE LABROT ET MARTINE LABROT A LA GALERIE ART-CULTURE-FRANCE

Du 07/09/2018 au 10/09/2018 : AVRANCHES : HERVE ET MARTINE LABROT PARTICIPENT A L'EXPOSITION "ART'AVRANCHES" AU HARAS

Du 31/03/2018 au 15/04/2018 : CAEN : 91è SALON DES ARTISTES EN NORMANDIE AUX EGLISES SAINT-NICOLAS ET VIEUX SAINT-SAUVEUR

Du 22/10/2017 au 05/11/2017 : GOUVILLE : 15è SALON SENEQU'ART A LA FILATURE

Du 21/08/2017 au 27/08/2017 : BRICQUEBEC : EXPOSITION HERVE ET MARTINE LABROT A L'HOTEL DE VILLE