Jérome Abel Seguin is a castaway on an island domain of his own devising. His childhood playground was home on the Atlantic coast of France, a place which he later understood had a profound effect on him. The coastal air and dramatic rural landscapes which shape the collective personality of those living in such places imbued Abel Seguin with a connection to the natural world that had become the focus of his sculpture ever since.
And so Abel Seguin couldn't resist a very particular siren call, one which led him to the islands of Sumbawa and later Bali, Indonesia. There, surrounded by the rhythms of the sea, warm winds, and volcanic activity, Abel Seguin surrendered once again to the patterns of nature and evolved a personal visual language to re-shape the random forms and textures of his tropical habitat.
The physicality of exposed and gnarled roots, fallen timbers, and petrified and fossilised boles is always respected by Abel Seguin. Each of his coffee tables, seating and sculptures honours the ravages of time and climate that form his raw materials filtered and contained by his sensitive interventions. We respond to his ideas because we understand that profound attachment we share with our endlessly evolving environment, resonating more urgently with the untamed elements that are inexorably being despoiled from our world.
Abel Seguin never imposes. Geo-consciousness is a characteristic at the core of his concept and vision contributing in his own way to the preservation of the craft traditions of the Islands, the effects of nature on wood and metal combine in works of 'a terrible beauty'*. His tables, screens, and abstract sculpture resound with strength inherent in the reclaimed, ancient wood sensitively worked with local tools - resulting in unique constructions of exceptional presence.
*apologies to WB Yeats