The Riva Project, a new space in the Charles Riva collection in Brussels presents an exhibition on contemporary sculpture with “Human Figure”. Designed as a dialogue between contemporary sculptures and works from Oceanic Art, the exhibition offers an approach characterised by unique aesthetics and sources.

This new component of contemporary sculpture uses the human figure as a starting point to offer a fresh perspective on the human representation in sculpture, where the face and body are key aspects. The treatment of the subject is not about a historical or formal interpretation but rather a dialogue between contemporary works and Oceanic Art to highlight aesthetic connections or oppositions of style.

Representing man is a means of expressing a reality, an aesthetic, a story, a characteristic. The selection offers an immersion into the heart of the human figure by summoning various influences around the face and body in a selection that addresses the issue of man from youth until death, depravity and inner movements as public positions.

While the first representation focuses on the face, the point is not to concentrate on the issue of the portrait but to reveal behind the sculpture a story of the face represented and address a life cycle. An external aesthetic force expresses the second representation plays on a combination between expression and interiority to translate the notion of an inner movement, which, animated by an internal force.

© Hugard & Vanoverschelde, photography