Nathalie Campion

Born and living in Brussels, this red-haired child was convinced that she was destined for the stake. As a child she clung to nature, liberated by a sense of being wild, alone, raw and alive. Nathalie Campion has connected to the Earth as if it was her first intimate relationship and most nurturing bond. This intrinsic link feeds her work through its roots in natural cycles anchored in gentle, occasionally brutal gestures of survival. While hand-building her sculptures in the depths of the Ardennes, the wet clay takes shape through the intimacy of touch, empathy, animistic trust, an almost erotic, even sexual rapport of sensual fragile strength. When the forms fold into shape, they lose their raw inner spirit, begging to be gouged and tortured, scratched and torn apart. The result is somewhere between seduction and struggle, sophistication and consciousness. In order to develop her quest for a “full work of art” as a sculptor-ceramicist, Campion pursues her journey in other inspiring environments, either in Belgium or abroad, where nature feeds her imagination and expertise. Death, blood, the suffering earth, all of these elements activate a form of focus in the sculpture: the imprint of Humanity on Earth is painful. The material is brought to critical states, close to failure. Guided by her intuitive and singular artistic gesture made of anger, pain and love, her artworks stand like strange forest creatures. Humanized, they feed our collective passion and interest in human nature with strength and finesse.

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