Pierre le Riche | Urns for the Ashes of My Lost Lovers | Part 1

"It is forbidden to keep all my lovers, so I harbour my feelings in containers adorned with my memories of them. My lust is carved in clay, vitrified and shattered."

"My adoration is lost in a shipwreck in a hull lined with amphorae filled with it. My love is consolidated, incinerated and divided among urns kept in a crypt so veiled that even I have forgotten its location."

Continuing his exploration of thread and textiles, Le Riche creates a series of tapestries, in bold explosions of colour and form.

 

This first iteration comprises of a series of story boards, created in both carved ceramic and yarn-tufted tapestries, depicting intimate moments between dreamt-up characters. In these works the characters act out real life moments with fictitious outcomes, and vice versa. In most cases the characters are male, addressing masculinity as being in a constant tug-of-war with itself. 

The bodies are portrayed as primal and highly sexualised. Their bodies are elongated and fluid, and constantly contorted to fit into the frames they are depicted in. Moments depicted are those of intense chemistry, be it positive or negative, with emotional residues left behind.

Sean O'Toole writes of Pierre's work: "The work is also deeply autobiographical, registering personal disappointments and regrets. The titular urn in his only still life registers a note of mourning. Ultimately, however, Le Riche has chosen to signal a new phase in his practice, one marked by a celebratory embrace of fertility and life."

 

Read the full text here.