email: octave.rimbert.riviere@gmail.com
insta: @octaverimbertriviere
Octave Rimbert-Rivière cherishes matter. He worships it and coaxes it, flattering it as one caresses the flank of an animal that is gradually domesticated. Tenderly, he cultivates a fleshly relationship with it. And his growing interest in digital potential does not in any way virtualize his practice, which remains fiercely anchored in the tangible. It remains touching. It marries pottery and new technologies. For him, any creation is the product of collages. His clay is drawn from the depths of the dark web, and is smeared with fun, by hand. If the sculptor regularly visits the digital world — and we cannot insist enough on the tactile dimension of the term ‘digital’ — it is to experiment with the modelling that such a tool allows, as would a potter’s rib. The computer is a vector of distortion, a machine to hack an archetypal form. The artist transforms the glitch into porcelain, pouring electronic flux and liquid clay into molds. In turn, his mugs and teapots both contain and spill. The glazes ooze, crackle, split. They bubble too. There is no limit to the amount of crust they can produce, because in ceramics, it’s always firing. From this angry magma, it is a question of creating functional objects, which are truly useful. This unblocks them from the exhibition space, and after having exported them a first time from the screen, frees them even more to simply irrigate life, in a race towards the concrete. To escape plinths, to crack the codes, to break the boxes. The function liberates the work.
Joël Riff, december 2022
Solo shows
| 2020 | Inanimate Friends — Josilda Da Conceicao Gallery, Amsterdam (NL) |
| 2018 | Spende (with Alaric Garnier) — Soej Kritik, Leipzig (DE) |
| 2017 | Las Tres Semanas — galerie Carreras Mugica, Bilbao (SP) |
| La Vallée Dérangeante (with Tom Castinel) — Bourse du Travail, Valence (FR) | |
| 2016 | Hardcore Vercors — Galeries Nomades, IAC, Centre d’art de la Halle, Pont-en-Royans (FR) |
| Le secret des moules — Bikini, Lyon (FR) |
Group shows (selection)
| 2023 | Post Tribal — Design Museum, Den Bosch (NL) |
| 2022 | Bling Bling — Musée de Carouge, Carouge (CH) |
| Still Making Art Five — Woonwerkpand Tetterode, Amsterdam (NL) | |
| 2021 | Life on Planet Orsimanirana — Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (DE) |
| Alternating Currents — Parallel Circuit, Tehran (IR) | |
| 2020 | Au Foyers — Moly Sabata, Sablons (FR) |
| Cold Sweat — Het Hem, De Dood, Amsterdam (NL) | |
| Les Rencontres Perméables — PAC, Aussillon (FR) | |
| 2019 | Les Vitamines du Bonheur — La Tôlerie, Clermont-Ferrand (FR) |
| Autoeclipse — Centre Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid (SP) | |
| Habiter le monde — Abbaye de Sennones (FR) | |
| KunstRai — WOW, Amsterdam (NL) | |
| Art-O-Rama — La Friche La Belle de Mai, Marseille (FR) | |
| 2018 | Plein jeu — FRAC Champagne Ardenne, Reims (FR) |
| 63ème Salon de Montrouge — Montrouge (FR) | |
| On Working and Then Not Working — CRAC Alsace, Altkirch (FR) | |
| 2017 | Jeune Création — gallerie Thaddeaus Ropac, Pantin (FR) |
| Plusieurs Doigts — La Serre, Saint-Etienne (FR) | |
| Les Entrées Extraordinaires III — Ateliers W, Paris (FR) | |
| 2016 | Anne et Lucie — Musée de Valence, Valence (FR) |
| From Transhuman to south perspective — Rowing, Londres (UK) | |
| Entrées Extraordianaires — Atelier W, Paris (FR) | |
| 2015 | Vision of Love — La Spirale, Décines (FR) |
| Raffineries — Moly Sabata, Sablons (FR) | |
| Local Line — MAM Saint-Etienne, Firminy (FR) | |
| Radical Software — galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris (FR) | |
| Biennale de Mulhouse 015 — Parc des Expositions, Mulhouse (FR) | |
| Brekekex — galerie Treize, Paris (FR) | |
| Prochainement Ici — Espace d’art Verney-Carron, Lyon (FR) |
Prizes, grants, residencies
| 2022 | Stimluleringsfonds Talent Devellopment Grant (NL) |
| Residency at Le Wonder-Fortin (FR) | |
| 2021-22 | Fellowship Research Program — Sandberg Instituut (NL) |
| 2021 | Residency at Le Château Éphémère, Paris (FR) |
| Residency at La Cherche, Cherbourg (FR) | |
| 2019-21 | Residency at WOW AIR, Amsterdam (NL) |
| 2018 | Residency at Soej Kritik / Fugitif, Leipzig (DE) |
| Residency at FRAC Champagne-Ardenne (FR) | |
| 2017 | Jeune Création - Fugitif award (FR) |
| Residency at La Serre — Plusieurs Doigts, Saint Étienne (FR) | |
| 2013-16 | Ateliers du Grand Large / ADERA — residency, Décines (FR) |
| 2016 | Residency at Moly Sabata residency — Galeries Nomades / IAC Villeurbanne / La Halle de Pont-en-Royans, Sablons (FR) |
| Residency at Fact to 3 — Galeries Nomades, Veynes (FR) | |
| 2015 | Residency at Moly Sabata — IESA grant, Sablons (FR) |
Publications
| 2023 | Geste/s — text of Joël Riff (FR) |
| 2021 | Life on Planet Orsimanirana — edited by MKG Hamburg, published by SPectors Book (D) |
| 2020 | On Working and then not Working — edited by CRAC Alsace and CA2M Madrid (FR - ES) |
| 2019 | CARF 01 — text of Elena Lespes Munos, FRAC Champagne Ardenne (FR) |
| 2018 | Catalogue du 63ème Salon de Montrouge — text of Marie Bechetoille (FR) |
| La Belle Revue #9 (FR), Bikini — text of Ilan Michel (FR) | |
| Spende — text of Jean-Damien Charmoille, Soej Kritik (FR) | |
| 2016 | Vision of Love — Text of Joël Riff, Charlotte Cosson and Emmanuelle Luciani co-edited by Rotolux Press and ADERA (FR) |
| Initiales NDP - Nathalie du Pasquier — ENSBA, Lyon (FR) | |
| Code South Way n°2 — text of Joël Riff, Marseille (FR) | |
| 2015 | Mulhouse 015 — catalogue d’exposition, Mulhouse (FR) |
| The Waves — catalogue d’exposition, Hambourg (DE) | |
| Exposition de Noël — Magasin CNAC, Grenoble (FR) | |
| Mes premiers pas au Creux de l’Enfer — text of François Aubard, Thiers (FR) | |
| Design: Alex J. Walker Development: Olivier J. |