Didi Gaudron MRSS

In my work, I am interested in considering the relation within the pair Identity/Change, and looking at the identity of a body going through a process of manipulation. I see the notion of  “body” as broad, stretching from the physical body, as a mass of flesh, bone, hair and cartilage, to  the symbolic representation of a body, for example as a flag standing for a “national body”.

I start with a space

The starting point of most of my work draws from the encounter and exploration of a specific place; i.e a chalet in the Swiss Alps (More or Less, 2005), a food market in London (Cows Are Sheep, 2004), or a room in a private house (La Chambre des Parents, 2022).  I develop a relationship to a place which evolves as a sort of anchor from which I produce a variety of related satellites works generated by my feelings towards the space; estrangement, longing, anger or delight, and the materials I might find readily available “on site”.

I listen with my hands

I work in an intuitive and playful way, through the repetition of gestures to let what I would call “the less obvious qualities” of a material emerge. My process is one of manipulation akin to bricolage, listening to a space with my hands. This process often results in the production of an object keeping a trace of its original identity but which has mutated and has seemingly acquired agency; a shopping trolley becomes the skeleton for a monstrous growth (Cows are Sheep series, 2005), or my mother’s hair extensions have grown exponentially to resemble the unlikely hybridisation of a dark hair Rapunzel and a tropical fig tree (Maman Figuier, 2022).

A Beach in the Caribbean

My most recent body of work and work in progress comes from the exploration of a beach on the island of Guadeloupe where my mother was born. It is collected and presented under the title A Beach in the Caribbean at  https://www.patriciagaudron.com/ 

Didi Gaudron graduated with a BA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London, 2003

Exhibitions include

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2003)

Now Introducing. Studio West, London, 2022

Some Of Us Are Brave. Cassildart, Oxford 2022

Out of the Blue.  Institut Français, London, 2018

How does Brexit make you feel? London School of Economics, London 2018 

Pressing Time. R.K.Burt Gallery, London 2018

Didi Gaudron’s prints and sculptures are held in many private collections in France, Germany and the UK. Amongst them is Antony Gormley’s private collection.