Eric Saint Georges

About

I was born in France, and moved to the US in 1994. In 1978, after having completed my education in Electrical Engineering, a workshop with the sculptor Petrus triggered my passion for sculpture. I then went to study drawing and sculpture for a year at the “Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts” in Paris, before spending several months with Petrus, from whom I learned the foundation of his clay technique. However, it is only in 2015 that I finally decided, after a 35-year engineering career, to go back to art full time.

Abstracted figurative sculptures and drawings represent a significant aspect of my work.

In my figurative drawings (mostly from life), I like to combine charcoal, ink, and watercolor, which allows me to work quickly, and capture life and energy in as spontaneous and raw a manner as possible.

In a similar fashion, I create many of my sculptures in clay, which allows me to work fast. I can then cast them in bronze, which is time consuming but very rewarding.

However, different material lead me to different goals. With my steel sculptures, I am seeking aesthetically pure forms. When reworking my life drawings with acrylic, I am exploring the tension that arises from superposing geometric shapes of paint on top of the organic shapes of my loose lines. When it comes to my stone or wood sculptures, I prefer to create polished and curved forms that highlight the beauty and the unique qualities of the material I am working with.

I also enjoy teaching figure drawing and sculpture.

I spend my time between my studio in Santa Barbara (CA), the Santa Barbara City College studio lab and foundry, and various life drawing sessions in the area.