Dubai-based sculptor Arnaud Rivieren works solely with industrial scrap and mainly with stainless steel. Called by the press “a scientist of spatial subterfuge, a doctor of dynamics, [and] the crown prince of the circle”, he recently gained waves of applause for his third solo show at B21 Gallery.

Rivieren is so entranced by the creative possibilities of steel, he regularly truffles the scrap heaps and steelyards of the UAE in search for raw material. Sourcing pieces of recycled steel that have already served a practical purpose, he then painstakingly works his materials through a lengthy, organic transformation, giving them new life in the process and ultimately reforming them into stunning angular shapes that contort, curve, twist and revolve into sculpture.

The sense throughout all is of the artist capturing the inspiration that floats by him on a daily basis (readings, music, images in the newspaper, children's memory…) and trimming it down like an obsessive collector in order to assemble a strangely personal depiction of his own emotions, feelings and memories.

Stripping ordinary objects of their normal environment, rendering gigantic what ordinarily fits in one's hand, redefining landscapes or defying physical laws; Rivieren's re-contextualization is staggering.
 

Born 1966, Brussels, Belgium
Lives and works in Dubai
 
Solo Exhibitions
2009
‘The Hatching', LTMH, NY, USA 
2009
Al Bastakiya Art Fair, installation, Dubai, UAE
2009
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2009
“The Hatching', B21 Gallery, Dubai, UAE 
2008
'Artparis - AbuDhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE 
2008
Al Bastakiya Art Fair, Special Installation, Dubai, UAE 
2008
'Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE 
2008
‘From Scrap', B21 Gallery, Dubai, UAE 
2006
‘Steel Sculpture', B21 Gallery, Dubai, UAE 
2005
‘Sculpture', B21 Gallery, Dubai, UAE 
 
Other
Permanent exhibition at the hotel 'La Maison d'Hote', Dubai, UAE