"With their simple and rounded shapes, my characters, either through the humor that emerges from them, or through movement that animates them, convey our emotions and send us back the image of utopian societies in search of the same answers as us."

Raymond Warren was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1947. His figurines harken back to the primitive beauty of pre-Columbian pottery. They are sculpted with finesse, with natural gestures, discreetly bringing us back to our sweetest memories. Warren lives in Maniwaki, Quebec.

​Your current work 'Here and There' brings us into the world of travellers, and invites us to explore the heaviness and lightness that comes with departing and arriving. How was the idea ignited and tell us the journey of 'Here and There' to this point?
Many of the characters I have created over the years have been airborne: stilt walkers, tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, or acrobats. Whether on a swing, at the end of a pole or a rope, they escaped the ground. This time, I had in mind to make a big gathering of characters with their feet on the ground. To ensure their stability, I had to widen the base. The idea came to me to add an object to it. Why not a suitcase? The suitcase, a beautiful symbolic element, a simple shape with variable proportions, a shape that would lead me to dress my characters, thus modifying their shape and, consequently, their coloring. I have multiplied the variations on this theme. The project has grown. Since then, current events have come to influence its development.

'Here and There' is cathartic yet visceral, comforting yet confronting. How do you achieve that?
This was not the only challenge of this installation. I also had to harmonize characters of different formats and colors. I also had to adapt to different possible exhibition venues. That's why I made groupings of characters, at once united and separate, much like on different islands in an archipelago. I chose, on the other hand, to keep away from other characters, those with tragic fate, those who flee the unbearable. We will therefore see HERE, in the foreground, travelers who rub shoulders in a place reminiscent of a vast lobby. They are arranged on platforms more or less spaced from each other like drifting ice patches. Then THERE are various groups of displaced people in the background, some walking in line, others parked, seated, waiting. This exhibition project is not a priori a manifesto, it is rather a look at the current world. It is up to each visitor to read it personally. For my part, I find that here and there, people, beyond the fate that favors or overwhelms them, are deeply similar and that in similar circumstances and when time stands still, a shared humanity emanates from them. HERE and THERE, to leave is already to let go a little, to leave things behind. And while waiting for the departure, concerned just as much with what we are leaving as what awaits us, extracted from our habits, cut off from our environment, between two worlds and outside of them, as never otherwise, comes a time when our mind wanders. Our ideals are only built on such journeys within ourselves. It is there that, compelled to be patient, an opportunity presents itself to us to imagine them.
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"HERE and THERE, to leave is already to let go a little, to leave things behind. And while waiting for the departure, concerned just as much with what we are leaving as what awaits us, extracted from our habits, cut off from our environment, between two worlds and outside of them, as never otherwise, comes a time when our mind wanders."

Similar to recent projects, the shapes of these characters are simple and rounded, but unlike in previous works these figures are dressed, why?
Strangely enough, although in most of my previous installations the characters did not have clothes, they did not express nudity, did not appear naked. Without clothes and accessories, they were just humans. This time, however, it was only logical that, as they are carrying luggage, they would be dressed.

'Here and There' connects to a recognition of the familiar space of a hall (perhaps a train station or airport terminal) but there are no clocks, no screens, no signages, no recognizable furniture... Why not?
I believe that an abundance of detail takes away from what is essential: the human being. This traveler, this anonymous character moving forward, he hopes, but he doubts. Most of the time, he manages to keep it to himself and knows how to reassure those he loves. I learned that the words human, humility, and humor have a common root, the Greek word humus, which refers to the earth, more precisely the soil.
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"In addition, while being hollow, the sculpture must be pierced so that air can escape. I like to think that the two small holes in the eyes of my characters allow the soul of anyone looking at them to penetrate inside them and settle there for a short time."

Tell us about your setting and arrangement, what do you aim for when creating a space for your characters to be displayed?
I like that the installation represents the character’s universe. None of them, during the short period of the exhibition, is a work of art. It is the whole that is the work of art. I like that the characters are "at home", that the visitor entering this place feels at once foreign and familiar, like Gulliver in Liliput. 
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​When will this be exhibited?
The exhibition has been rescheduled to next summer at the Trinity Gallery in Ottawa.

Each figure is hollow, tell us about this.
All ceramic pieces must be hollow. When it comes to a bowl, a cup, you don't pay attention to it, the vacuum corresponding to the object's function. When it comes to making a character, this need for the shape to be hollow first appears as a constraint. I quickly realized that it is, on the contrary, an advantage, that it facilitates the shaping. In addition, while being hollow, the sculpture must be pierced so that air can escape. I like to think that the two small holes in the eyes of my characters allow the soul of anyone looking at them to penetrate inside them and settle there for a short time.

Clay is a wonderful material that obeys the slightest pressure of the fingers. It’s a heavy material, which I like to lighten; a plain material that I like to make smile. 

​The characters harken back to images of utopian societies and awaken something of the child within all of us. What are we searching for that these characters can satisfy?
Who doesn't need a little more patience, confidence, gentleness, calmness, indulgence and courage? A little more tenderness? A little more stamina? A little more humor? Without being able to easily and simultaneously find all these qualities around us, works of art offer them to us in the form of images, words, music. Diverse and innumerable, they are all possible stops along our journey. Works of art can affect us in many ways: they can serve as well as challenge the established order; they can beautify, they can explain. If my characters are good companions, that's already a lot.
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What do the figurines satisfy within you and at what stage during the process do you get that feeling?
It is said that on the Sixth day God created Man out of a little clay. I like to think that he left all the unused clay there for fun. Clay is a wonderful material that obeys the slightest pressure of the fingers. It’s a heavy material, which I like to lighten; a plain material that I like to make smile. You can work the clay directly with your hands, without tools, without great effort, without making noise. You can work with clay spontaneously, quickly. However, clay only comes to life through firing. Sometimes the momentum is built up from the start, from the initial sketch that reveals the character’s emotion. But even when everything is finished, when the character comes out of the kiln and nothing can be changed, there is still time to create a new assembly, to associate other materials with the ceramic, etc. This is how the installation entitled LA CANDEUR DU CARPENTIER took shape. I developed this exhibit to meet a last minute request. All the characters had already been made. I added wooden structures, easels, ladders to give these characters a second life.
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"Firing with wood is to hope that the image created will be enriched by the expression of fire."

You do not use any coloring oxides so the figures have a burnt appearance but the process bestows some coloring effects. There is also the paradox of the controlled modelling and the random finishing results. Share with us some insight into this.
Clay is called upon to become, under the action of fire, both fragile and resistant. I chose wood firing. Living in the countryside made it possible for me. Firing with wood is unique. It allows me to forego the use of glaze and to rely, for the variety of textures and colors, on the presence, in varying and more or less predictable concentration, of smoke, flames and ashes in the kiln. To call upon fire, to ally with it, is to accept that it determines, that it imposes, that it takes clay elsewhere, giving it colors and textures in exchange for its lost plasticity. Firing with wood is to hope that the image created will be enriched by the expression of fire. Day by day, I make clay pictures, with the hope that the fire will put them on my Sunday.

You work everyday in a kiln that you built yourself 37 years ago. Tell us about your work process and your close alliance with fire.
Building a wood-fired kiln is a bit like taking an oath. This is how I made a commitment, in a way, to to go into the forest to harvest wood that will feed this kiln and also to transform some of this wood into planks with which to build sheds where all this wood will dry. All my seasons are modulated in this way: a time for shaping clay, a time for firing, a time for exhibiting, a time for harvesting wood, a time for building, a time for maintaining the kiln...

What would you say to future generations of sculptors? 
I would say: “One day, perhaps, clay will be shaped by 3D printers. I feel sorry for these machines for they will never experience the true digital pleasure of grabbing a handful of clay”. And, finally, I would say:” Bon voyage!”


​Website: www.raymondwarren.com