ABOUT THE ARTIST

French artist Claude Chavent lives and works in the south of France. Born in 1947, he came to the art of studio jewelry from a background in chemistry. He crafts his impeccable designs in a studio outside Montpellier.

ABOUT STATEMENT

“My purpose is to bring volume and movement to forms that should be light, taught and perhaps ambiguous. I use perspective and trompe l’oeil to do so. Hammering will stretch the metal and edge lines, ever so sparsely. When the piece is absolutely flat, the illusion is created by the reflection of light over different textures. Ideally, I want to simplify more and more, so that the distance is the shortest from concept to the object.”

ABOUT THE WORK

Claude makes “extremely beautiful jewelry-small pieces imbued with meaning and mystery, sometimes pledges of love, displaying art and skill….They are not ordinary pieces, but recognizable because they are so close to their designer’s wishes that they are like a series of self-portraits, unmistakably signed…They are sublime and hieratic, light imprinted with purity and with the absolute….free of baroque ornamentation and close to the intelligent, absolute beauty of unclouded feelings and as close as possible to desire.” Henri-Michel Morat

Illusion used to deceive but to cause perpetual doubt is found in the astonishing jewelry of Claude Chavent. His work is a triumph of tromp l’oeil technique; he brings seeming volume and movement to forms while leaving them flat and light. He plays with optical illusions, using the contrasts of metal colors to develop virtual perspective in his dazzling, sometimes startling, jewelry. Other contrast-such as yellow and black colors, precious and base metals and refined and rough textures- are impeccably crafted from gold and oxidized iron in his designs. He uses gold, platinum, iron and silver because each of these metals offers specific properties unavailable in the others. “Chavent has a passion for the architecture, which addresses and parallels his interest in form. He creates his magnificent designs in a studio in a small village outside Montpellier in the south of France. -“ From Masters:Gold, Curated by Martha Le Van, Lark Books

PUBLICATIONS
500 Earrings, Lark Books
500 Pendants & Lockets, Lark Books
Modern Jewellery Design, Reinhold Ludwig

MUSEUMS
Museum Frac, Nord 5, Dunkerque, France
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Musee des Decoratifs, Paris, France

RECENT EXHIBITIONS
2008 Adornment for the 21st Century, Michael Zobel curates, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 87501
2002 Schmuckszene (Munchen)
2001 Bienalle du Bijou Contemporain (Nimes)
Barbara Schulte-Hengesbach (Dusseldorf)
2000 “Precieux Present” (Roanne) Galaeria Helene Poree (Paris)