LONDON.- With ‘Origins’, Ingrid Donat unveiled six new sculptural pieces at Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s London space. The new works includes two commodes, a console table, bench, low table and a floor lamp; all created in Ingrid Donat’s signature intricate style. The exhibition takes place from 26 May until 22 July 2016 and foreshadows the launch of the first monograph dedicated to the artist’s work, to be published this fall.

INTROSPECTIVE EXPLORATIONS
These new works are inspired by tribal and Art Deco trends. They seek to further develop Ingrid Donat’s artistic exploration of her origins and roots, on the island of la Réunion, known for its volcanic rock and wild natural landscape. The artist’s use of bronze and dark woods adds an imposing and almost masculine energy to her works. However, this idea is juxtaposed by the complexity of the patterns incorporated into her pieces, which suggest a more feminine nature.

PRIMARY INTUITIONS
Ingrid Donat’s work invokes the majestic spirit of 1920s Art Deco designers such as Pierre legrain and Armand-Albert Rateau, who transformed African tribal design into luxurious works of art. The motifs she engraves recall the animal and fish skins Art Deco artists used to incorporate texture into their works. To achieve the delicacy required in her engraving, Ingrid Donat has developed her own precise tools to get the exact affect needed. These have evolved over decades along with her style and technical approach.

In Ingrid Donat’s work we can see echoes of legrain’s ceremonial chairs in wood with their intricate incorporation of symbols and patterns often found in West African tribal art, along with curves inspired by nature and those of the human body.
Whilst in her bronze pieces we are reminded of Armand-Albert Rateau’s decorative engraving of vegetation motifs and animals. Both take basic and natural aesthetics and transform them into elegant, finely crafted and highly decorative works. She also admires the detailed patterning of Gustav Klimt’s painting and brings this into her work.

TRADITIONAL CRAFTS CELEBRATED
Ingrid Donat’s artistic practice is consistent. Developed and created at Roissy with a team of skilled artisans, her creative process starts with a sheet of wax, which she engraves, carves and shapes to form the design of her work, which is then applied to her pieces. The artist engraves the bronzes, paints the upholstery and treats the wood herself. Her studio and office are now based there.

Ingrid Donat was born in 1957, in Paris, into a family of artists. Raised in Sweden she returned to Paris in 1975 in order to pursue her passion for art and sculpture.

Developing her talent quickly, she drew inspiration from renowned artists such as César, Sylva Bernt, her partner André Arbus, and Diego Giacometti who inspired her to start sculpting furniture. In her work you can see the influences of tribal art, the Art Deco movement and organic forms of Art Nouveau. The artist only began to exhibit her work publicly in 1998, presenting a show with more than 20 years worth of work.

Her classic style remains timeless and prevalent in all of her works. She is one of the most important artists in the decorative arts market today, represented for ten years by Barry Friedman Gallery in New York, then exclusively by Carpenters Workshop Gallery since 2008. Her works and private commissions can be found within some of the most beautiful collections in the world. Even if there is only a difference of two hours between Sweden and the Reunion Island, a big cultural gap exists between the two civilisations.

The act of creation is the expression of her freedom. Raised in Sweden, she came to Paris as a young woman to live with her father. In a workshop to prepare her for the entrance exams of École des Beaux-Arts, the Atelier Delarue, she freed herself from the constraints of language and reason. Drawing became her form of expression.

She is fascinated and influenced by tribal art. For her, it is a way to grasp the matter without preconceived ideas, to celebrate a popular art that is naïve as well as having a ceremonial dimension. For some pieces, she draws her inspiration from scarification, which is divided into two distinct categories in African traditions, some are hollow and others are prominent.

Ingrid Donat’s artistic approach fits naturally into this tradition of working on the skin, on the furniture’s surface, an approach well served by the bronze technique. This material is very important to Ingrid Donat. She likes to exploit its diversity.