Meet FCK–Frédérick Gautier, artist-in-residence

FCK–Frédérick Gautier

FCK–Frédérick Gautier is a ceramic artist who touches on sculpture and erotic photography with a brutalist aesthetic, defying standards and dissolving boundaries. His work deliberately confuses the boundaries between what is considered provocative, voyeurism and art.

His artistic work, with a brutalist aesthetic, has previously explored architectural eroticism, investigating how sexuality is expressed in functionalist architecture. The micro-architectures always remain functional, initiating an implicit dialogue, especially through the concrete moveable wall  that partition spaces while evoking an erotic tension through the voyeurism they generate.

Adopting his brutalist aesthetic, ceramic artist FCK-Frédérick Gautier ventures into the field of sculpture and erotic photography, defying the standards of perfection and aiming to dissolve conventional boundaries. This project explores the complex boundaries between what is considered provocative, voyeurism, and art.

Throughout his encounters, men dressed as they are, will take hold of his ceramic pieces to stage themselves, turning them into props for a sensual game. Nonchalant postures, frugal scenes, and athletic poses will stand out in the series of photographs developed during the residency. The subjects enjoy the contradictions that these erotic and functional objects provoke, concealing areas of the body that they replicate in their reliefs. The structure of the body’s positions are transposed into these pieces that serve both for sustenance and to bring the body closer to its own image. The photography of FCK fully connects the action and fantasies that connect the subject to the photographed object, to the point of nearly blending them together.

FCK has a prolific production and a nearly fetishistic relationship with the forms he creates. His creations are resolutely simple; they are containers. They aim not solely for ornamentation, but that are simultaneously functional, imposing, sturdy, and easy to handle. The objects are created to interact seamlessly with the human touch, leathers, and fibers. They are tools for nourishment but also reveal these fantasies, embodying an exploration of eroticism.

Returning to Los Angeles for the second time for his Tom of Finland Foundation artist residency, Gautier will partner with Tom of Finland Foundation and VENIA Studio to produce a series of ceramic, photo, video workshops and exhibitions. The events present installations that inspire spectators to share the design philosophy of employees: an expressive, organic and utilitarian design, while highlighting Tom of Finland’s mission to protect, preserve and promote Queer, erotic art.

Bienvenue, Frédérick!

Published: 6th February 2024

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