Véronique Guerrieri looks toward imagination when creating her childlike and wondrous sculptures that range from tabletop size to monumental pieces. The work features a cast of characters that connect with older children and adults who keep their inner child alive. In a new exhibition at RJD Gallery in Romeo, Michigan, Guerrieri will showcase her rabbits and cosmonauts.
“Einstein said, ‘Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.’ Artists take us everywhere through their creative visions known only to them. Such expressive manifestations lead to art that challenges, excites and inspires us and fires our own imaginations,” says gallery director Joi Jackson Perle. “Véronique brings to life the most delightful characters that make our hearts soar with their whimsical flights of fancy.” 
The Thinking Rabbit, black bronze, 23 3/5"
Symbolically, Guerrieri’s rabbit sculptures are a “fetish object of the small child, an inert object animated by the small child who gives him magical powers. This is a projection of their imagination.” She continues, “This rabbit is the memory of our childhood and reminds adults of the child who lives and sleeps within them. This is a little child’s first love—a soft toy, an intimate and fusional object, a plush that follows him everywhere and all of the time. The child endowed him with magical and extraordinary powers outside of real life. Many children have soft toys that are considered an emotional transitional object, replacing the absent parent; other children do not need it. This is the object that I have chosen to symbolize childhood.”
The Jogging Rabbit, black bronze, 23 6/10"
The Standing Rabbit, black bronze, 63" or 27 3/5"
Her artwork is done in simplified shapes that are easily recognizable to the viewer and that begin with the surfaces and how she sculpts the form. “I really like working with plaster in their creation. It allows me to make nice, smooth surfaces and a tight fit,” explains the artist. “I like the idea that we can caress the sculptures, whether they are smooth with soft shapes. I wish people could have a familiarity with these carvings [and] that people feel very close to them…I also try to tell my characters’ stories, and I try to simplify the shapes. For example, the rabbit does not have a mouth, but I accentuated his gaze with large, oval eyes. I vary the metallurgy, the mix of finished sculptures, in bronze, polished nickel, stainless steel, or others, to provide a lifetime of enjoyment and durability and to enhance the specific artwork.”
The Dancing Rabbit, black bronze, 17 7/10"
Commenting on the surfaces in Guerrieri’s artwork is collector Patricia Fridemann. “The soft and smooth patinas of Véronique Guerrieri’s sculptures fascinate and challenge us in the purity and perfection of their lines.” She adds, “Véronique’s unique rabbits and cosmonauts make us dream and glide into a world of sensuality, toward the emotions of childhood, which never leave, and where there is a limitless imagination.”
The exhibition of Guerrieri’s artwork, titled Imagination Has Artful Consequences, will be on view at the gallery from February 27 to March 31. —
RJD Gallery
227 N. Main Street • Romeo, MI 48065
(917) 678-2292 • www.rjdgallery.com
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