Born in 1957, Claire Roger has developed a distinctive artistic language through a highly personal technique. Her sculptural works evoke the art of ancient civilisations, while their meticulously crafted decorative compositions conjure up enigmatic scenes and landscapes, left deliberately open to the viewer’s interpretation. The artist never discloses the story or narrative that accompanied her in the making of a particular work, allowing each piece to retain its own aura of mystery.
It is only by lingering over the extraordinary detail of these imaginary worlds that one discovers a remarkable aspect of Roger’s practice: the decoration is not applied to the surface of the object, but runs through its very structure. The artist works with fine layers of clay, coloured throughout, which she cuts into slices before meticulously rearranging and juxtaposing them. This painstaking process creates patterns that permeate the body of each piece. Often taking the form of vessels, containers, vials or bottles, Roger’s works appear to hold something within them — secrets, memories and wondrous tales. Their enclosed forms invite the viewer to imagine what might lie beyond the visible, transforming each object into a vessel for an unseen narrative.
“My work is a graphic adventure developed from clay coloured throughout its mass. Its uniqueness lies essentially in the simultaneous treatment of colour, graphic expression and volume.
This graphic language draws its source from the thickness of the material.
It engages with notions such as stratification, interweaving, superimposition, juxtaposition, repetition and modulation…
I like my work to unfold over time.”