Hervé Wahlen

Hervé Wahlen, sculptor in copperware, is born in 1957. Copperware is not a profession; it is a technique. Hervé defines it as “the formatting of metals to sheets” and situates it between boiler making and the silversmith. He started with engraving but, once the copper sheet under press, he had no more pleasure. He discovers that copperware allowed to create his own forms and add that “the passing of the curb under the hand is so sensual!”.

Today, the artist only works cooper. The heath, the softness and the reflection of cooper have to do probably with his link to Algeria, his native country. He maintains a very physical connection to the materials without it being a work of force or repetition: “I weld a lot, I add, I cut, I construct. This gives simples pieces, hollow of course, that keep a balance thanks to counterweights, a principle that I created when sharing in Montreuil the workshop of the last maker of Roman scales”. It is also in this dark workshop that he started to make strong patina to allow bright and luminous pieces.