Jean-Pierre Rives: New Paintings and Sculptures

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 10, 2012) - Serge Sorokko Gallery announced today that it will host the U.S. premiere of French artist Jean-Pierre Rives' very latest creations. The exhibition of 25 works entitled "Jean-Pierre Rives: New Paintings and Sculptures" will open to the public on September 6, 2012 and remain on view through October 10. Jean-Pierre Rives will be in attendance at an exclusive opening party at the gallery on September 5, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

"These are Jean-Pierre's newest works, and I am so proud to bring them to San Francisco," said gallery owner Serge Sorokko. "Ever since I saw Rives' remarkably expressive sculptures at the Quai Branly

Museum in Paris, I knew instantly that I had to share this experience with audiences in the U.S."

The story of world-renowned French artist Jean-Pierre Rives is fascinating. A champion rugby player in his youth and a widely collected artist, Rives is a legend in his native France, as well as throughout Europe. Touted by the BBC as a "cult figure", he is a subject of numerous books and documentaries, as well as the recipient of the Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest decoration in France.

The bond between art and sport feels natural to Rives, as he believes that profound emotions can be found in both. His powerful paintings and his remarkably fluid steel sculptures were called by the French Dépêche du Midi "a marvelous mixture of suffering, grace and beauty."

Of the sculptures being debuted Rives said, "I seek to bring lightness to that which is heavy, romanticism and poetry to that which is rigid." He bent and twisted his found steel, manipulating the shapes created by the resulting positive and negative spaces, then cut the beams strategically to form complex compositions in which the hardness of the steel produces a powerful juxtaposition to the soft curves.

Rives sees his newest paintings as the two-dimensional reflections of his sculptures. He uses the word

"impression" to describe both the technique and the philosophy applied to his canvases. The impression is made by a mark or an indentation created by pressure, as if his sculptures were dipped in tar and paint and then pressed onto the surface of a canvas.

Jean-Pierre Rives' sculptures have been showcased at public venues around the world including the prestigious Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, a stone's throw from the classical Senate building, in 2002.

This installation marked the first time sculptures were exhibited there since Auguste Rodin's exhibition more than a century ago. Other large scale shows included the annual Sculpture By The Sea exhibition in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, an exhibition in the historically important Royal Park in Brussels, Belgium, in 2009, and an installation on the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in Manhattan, New York, in 2010, to name a few.