Born in Paris in 1962 Jacques Jarrige thanks to his father, an art collector , discovers very early on the universe of forms and paintings of the beginning of the 20th century. The childhood exposure and daily intimacy with works of art made a profound enough impression on him to become as Rilke said his "blood, vision and body language ", the bridge from memories to creation. His accute sense of space and passion for construction drove him to study architecture but soon enough he realized that he couldn't be satisfied with plans on paper, he needed to craft himself and touch materials with his own hands.
He starts with drawings then brings them to life: bending iron and sculpting wood with very simple tools. Alone in his workshop he learns to measure the resistance of materials, becoming an artist-artisan as he likes to think of himself. There he creates his unique and formal technical vocabulary.
Iron, wood, stone, mirror, glass, brass, bronze, mecanical pieces take shape following Jacques Jarrige's fantasy. Nothing feels unnecessary or insignificant, the new shapes created unmistakably have the grace and vitality of natural vegetation
It is at “En attendant les Barbares” gallery that Jacques Jarrige, like so many artists of the 80's starts to blossom.
His first exhibit at the Entrepôts de Bercy in 1989 with a painter friend Frédéric Monnet allows him to experiment the dialogue between furniture, painting and a living and intense ephemeral space.
Two exhibitions at the gallery “En attendant les Barbares” in 1991 and 1993 show this evolution.
After gluing and consolidating plates of MDF to constitute a proper mass, he sculpts, cuts, carves in the thickness for his furniture to take shape. It is in creating negative space in the material that the shapes emerge and the forms come to life. He then has to patinate, varnish, color to achieve total tranformation: heavy mass becomes light and depth takes place .
Jacques Jarrige's search for balance between emptiness and fullness, space and material is on-going but he always has in mind the functional aspect of furniture. He looks for unique, ingenious, original solutions to create objects that will inhabit a home with a unique and whimsical presence inviting you to cultivate a sense of daily spirituality.
Tranlated from Jérôme Godeau, Paris, octobre 1997 (Catalogue Hôtel de Ville de Paris 1997)
A list of notable solo exhibitions follows:
1989 Entrepôts de Bercy, Paris
1991 Galerie En attendant les Barbares, Paris
1993 Galerie En attendant les Barbares, Paris
1998 Hôtel de ville de Paris Salle Saint Jean
2002 Galerie Frédéric de Luca Paris
2006 Galerie Cat Berro Paris
2009 Galerie Thierry Marchand Paris
2010 1st Exhibition in the USA at Valerie Goodman Gallery
Group exhibitions :
1991 "les guichets de l' enfance" Musée de la Poste
1994 "le cintre" Hamburg, Germany Museum of Decorative Arts
2000 "L'école Française" VIA
2005 "Meubles d' Artistes" Musée de Châteauroux
National collections :
2002 Mobilier national
2004 Musée d’Orléans
2005 FNAC