Frédéric Daty

Frederic Daty studies the relationship between a maker and his artwork with his series of wall sculptures. He studies this relationship by stripping cities of their façades and focussing on the structure, the skeleton, the core recreated from material that comes directly from the ground, raw steel, and the flux of energy represented by shadows, light and perspective. Imagining himself at the helm of an enormous microscope, he is the observer, the silent witness to the vibrant “city-worlds” with their perpetual changes and emotions left for the spectator to infer.

Daty works to recreate the energy fluxes that surround cities. He directs the gaze of the viewer to the nucleus of these forces within his sculpture, from whence the eye is drawn outward, exploding in all directions. We can find in the generated movements gently undulating curves and spirals, juxtaposed alongside aggressive shapes depicting the opposing views on the city. With a bit of distance, time is compressed, and kinetic energy dominates. The hyper-mobility appears and the city becomes an entire life space for the inhabitants.

The new collection from international artist Frédéric Daty uses raw, hand-cut steel to explore the notion of London’s urban cityscape as an ecosystem. Using raw, hand-cut steel, Daty’s impressive wall sculptures explore the notion of urban cityscapes as an ecosystem, which has quickly become saturated with human beings. By the year 2040, over 50 billion people will inhabit urban zones, and these ever growing sprawling metropolises will increasingly blur city limits. Daty studies this relationship by emptying these overrun spaces of all living organisms, stripping them of their façade and retaining only the city’s core skeleton, carved from one of earth’s most fundamental materials.

Translated as 'shadows of the city', the body of work is inspired by technology and the intrinsic power of cities.

London is a city like no other. At night it comes to life, conjured by the shadows that dance through the cobbled streets and wrap themselves around archways and streetlamps. A playground for magic and mischief alike, its metamorphic nature is explored in Frédéric Daty’s stunning collection, Ombres de Ville.

Through iconic imagery, Frédéric evokes the music, literature and architecture that have inspired artists for centuries. The city’s opulence is captured in a bottle of luxurious perfume, its chaos and noise existing within the twists and turns of Frédéric’s dynamic sculptures. It is this duality that brings Frédéric’s work to life. The double face of London can be seen everywhere you look, from the flickering illusion of Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper to the horizontal and vertical views of the city.

Casting his gaze across Manchester’s architectural treasures of cathedral spires, warehouses, railway viaducts and skyscrapers that converge to create the Capital of the North, Frédéric Daty seeks to put Manchester in his artistic spotlight with Ombres De Ville.

A city mostly associated with a deep and rich pop culture and musical history, many people are unaware that Manchester was regarded as the first and greatest industrialised city in the world.

With the spirit of music and art running through its veins, Daty has chosen his subject with insight and instinct. Even the title, which translates to ‘Shadows of the City’, rings with resonance when one views the artworks; Daty’s use of chiaroscuro within his sculptures lends a sense of gravitas, through a balance of light and shade, that reflects the depth and complexity of his subjects.