Stéphane Cipre

Prolific artist

A sparkling Fiat 500 by the artist may have caught your eye on Place Guynemer in Nice or while it was on display in the town of Valberg. The work of discreet artist Stéphane Cipre can also be spotted in galleries and at collectors’ homes all over the world.

By Milena Radoman

At his workshop in the heart of Saint-André La Roche’s industrial estate, Stéphane Cipre produces his works from start to finish. This 150 m² Ali Baba’s cave contains sculptures about to be shipped to a gallery or a collector’s home and all the tools and materials the artist needs for lost-wax and sand casting. Aluminium and bronze ingots are ready to be cast using techniques passed down for generations, then each piece is connected using “the Rolls-Royce of soldering irons”. A sewing machine is used on the leather to make the furniture. “I need to learn how everything is done”, says the artist, dressed in overalls. 

Born in 1968, Stéphane Cipre began by working with fabric, fur and leather. After earning a CAP vocational qualification in fashion design, he joined the family business on Avenue Georges Clémenceau in Nice, as the “fourth generation furrier”. His father, who received the revered Meilleur Ouvrier de France accolade, instilled in him “an appetite for a job well done”, producing pieces for Chacok and Yves Saint-Laurent. Following his passion for foundry and welding, he took evening classes at the Ecole du Louvre and Villa Thiole, studying Fine Arts and Art History, then his first exhibition on tableware in Aix-en-Provence caught the attention of a gallery.
An admirer of César and Arman,
Stéphane Cipre left fashion behind and focused on sculpture, asserting his own style while taking revenge on the cruelties of life. His childhood teachers called him a fool because he made spelling mistakes. More fool them. He challenged himself to make writing the key focus for his art. He plays with the letters of the alphabet, assembling, twisting and expanding them so that the sculpted words take the shape of the subject they designate, which might be an animal (Cow, Dog, Shark) or a Chair. Indeed, his Chair made the cover of the New York Times and will be featured on the poster of the Art Design Fair. 

Art as a commodity

Moved by the unfortunate disappearance of local shops and craftsmen due to globalisation, the sculptor also integrates the notion of “art as merchandise”
into his work. His ART and LOVE sculptures are “strapped, compressed, clipped or fixed to shipping pallets”, to show that nothing can escape consumer society and that everything is produced, purchased and transported. “I was
inspired by bundles of Chinese goods,” explains Stéphane Cipre, whose Made in China won the Matisse Prize at the
UMAM Contemporary Art Biennale.

This incredibly productive creator, and father of three children – Séraphin, Emmy and Romane – has little experience with artist’s block. After using superimposed and coloured metal strips to portray icons such as Che Guevara, Chairman Mao, Gandhi and Princess Grace – gifted to Nelson Mandela by the Prince’s Palace in Monaco –, the sculptor began working on a series inspired by the history of art, from pop art to sacred art.  As well as his partnerships with the chocolatier LAC and Ferret the jeweller, he didn’t think twice about turning his hand to furniture, making game tables in brass and aluminium and a “James Bond” coffee table that can be transformed into a pool table on request. “At the moment these are prototypes. A pool table (40,000 euros) takes a month to produce. Everything is covered in leather, from the insides of the pockets to the ball return systems”, says the artist who will present his pieces at the Cannes Yachting Festival. Stéphane Cipre has also made the most expensive artistic table football in the world, with twenty-two world legends as players, including Platini, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Buffon and Eusebio. It was sold to a collector for over 80,000 euros. The artist has created another one, inspired by the Spain/Netherlands World Cup final in South Africa.

For the last seven years, he has been supported by Gilles, a former jeweller trained in foundry. “He was the right person. With his help, I can focus on pure creation.” To ensure they continue creating and innovating, the pair will soon move into a larger workshop in Peille on a site spanning 2000 m². “I feel like a young artist, the best is yet to come”,
he smiles.