SAINT CLAIR CEMIN, World as Flow
Brazilian-born contemporary sculptor Saint Clair Cemin encompasses multiple styles, approaches, and materials throughout his work. He draws from numerous sources – the naturalistic to the abstract, from surreal, pop culture and the general history of sculpture. This remarkable polished steel work, World as Flow, is a complex abstract figuration from a series of works which embody the profound sense of the loss of his mother. The sculpture seems to be one figure acting out in different stages of movement, gracefully collapsing in on itself in a continuous fluid motion. This work can be placed both inside or outside.
Detail, World as Flow.
Saint Clair Cemin’s work is represented numerous important museums and private collections. He became interested in sculpting as a teenager. Once interested in philosophy and physics, he began to focus his attention on art, drawing and working on illustrations for magazines. He earned his degree at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, from 1975-1978 where he learned printmaking. Moving to New York City shortly after graduating, he then experimented in carpentry, renovating lofts in New York, cabinet making, and finally he moved on to sculpture. The artist's first exhibited sculpture was The Granny Ashtray, which has been described as an anti-modernist piece. During the 80’s Cemin became an integral part of NY's East Village art scene. Some of his works from this era are on permanent exhibition at important institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. After those formative years in NYC Cemin moved to Egypt and then Paris to pursue sculpture in different environments and with different mediums. After 2010 he returned to NY and continues to create sculptural works in his Brooklyn studio.
In 1990 Saint Clair Cemins' first public sculpture was installed in the town of Reston, Virginia. Since then he has had large public monuments installed throughout the world, including "Open" in Schaumberg, Illinois, "Tree" in Bergen, Norway, "Spring" in Båstads Kommun, Sweden. In 1995, he received the Biennial Award from the Ueno Royal Museum and the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan.
Cemin continues to exhibit widely with galleries and museums around the world. His work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France; Emily Fisher Landau Collection, Long Island City, NY; Rooseum, Stockholm, Sweden; Eli Broad Family Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; and Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brazil, among many others.
World as Flow
130 x 130 x 130 cm