Jean-Pierre Larocque is a tried and tested Canadian artist. As his very French sounding name may hint at, he is from Quebec, and more specifically Montreal. He went to school in his hometown at Concordia University, where he majored in visual art, in 1986. He attended Alfred University for his graduate studies and graduated in 1988. Because JP is so French Canadian, it's hard to find literature on him that is not written in French, which, I think, adds authenticity to his, yet-to-be finished, story. Although JP is exceedingly talented in the realm of ceramic creation, he is not limited to the medium when it come to expressing what is on his mind, or in his beautiful, Canadian heart. And what is in his hear and on his mind is a sort of play with shadows, both physically and metaphorically. JP strives to express that boundary between the imagined and the reality of things. He seems, to me, to be interested in walking that line between psychotic and genius, a rewarding place to play in with clay in your hands, evidently.
 |
| JP with head sculptures |
The way these works are fired and displayed are particularly interesting. Each piece can go through as many as ten glaze firings. Each time the clay changes slightly and JP reworks the glaze surface. Such an unusual process means the work has an amazing sense of materiality in that it has so many different degrees of a particular texture, color of the clay body, and shadow. The works are also often presented with the original armature still part of the final piece. The rough yet deliberate texture and structure add to an unfinished and therefore, statically charged work. JP's art is moslty absent of bright color, instead, it is worked with earthen tone slips and engobes. The seemingly austere surface treatment, is, in fact, very highly developed, though.
 |
| Horse sculpture |
 |
| Head sculpture |
I think the collage nature of his work is indicative of a psychological subject matter, that has been really rendered in the 3D, which for me justifies the "absence" of color. It is certainly interesting to look at.
Sources:
https://www.concordia.ca/finearts/studio-arts/faculty.html?fpid=jean-pierre-larocque https://www.galeriedeste.com/exhibition/19/press_release/ http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2013/06/jean-pierre-larocque.html http://www.kevindykstra.com/Portfolio/gallery/galleries/Ceramics_230/documentation/Ceramics%20230%20-%20Artist%20Review%20of%20Jean%20Pierre%20Larocque.pdf http://www.piroir.com/en/jean-pierre-laroque drawing by JP Larocque
https://www.concordia.ca/finearts/studio-arts/faculty.html?fpid=jean-pierre-larocque https://www.galeriedeste.com/exhibition/19/press_release/ http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2013/06/jean-pierre-larocque.html http://www.kevindykstra.com/Portfolio/gallery/galleries/Ceramics_230/documentation/Ceramics%20230%20-%20Artist%20Review%20of%20Jean%20Pierre%20Larocque.pdf http://www.piroir.com/en/jean-pierre-laroque drawing by JP Larocque