It has been more than a decade since Jean-Luc Dejean, an artist from Point-à-Pitre, started recycling old metal into sculptures to give it a second life. His exhibit at The Arawak in Guadeloupe, last September, made us interested in finding our more about his career.
Jean-Luc Dejean was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, not far the studio where he works today. Located at the end of Chemin des Petites Abymes, his creative sanctuary is accessible to everyone. If you pay attention, along the roadside you can see his large, spectacular creations composed of bolts, sheet metal, and other intertwined metallic elements.
Self-taught, he has felt a strong need to express his artistic nature since adolescence. He gets his inspiration from books and is particularly interested in the human body. When asked about artists that inspire him, he automatically evokes his passion for the aesthetic appeal of Michelangelo and his admiration for the precision of movement seen in the work of Rodin.
Initially attracted by painting, Dejean’s interest in volumes and his fascination with human anatomy quickly led him to sculpture. It is this artform where he feels most at home, As he tells us, “when young, I was very attracted by sculptures by the Italian masters and their three-dimensional rendering. But marble and stone were not easily available. Without financial resources, I had to be inventive and turned, by necessity, to found materials. In light of all the carcasses of vehicles abandoned everywhere in Guadeloupe, I quickly had the idea of recycling steel. I still use this as a raw material today.”
The idea of recycling, in keeping with the environmental awareness of this enlightened artist, positions him, as he sees it, as an alchemist who transforms junk to give it a second life. Today, he figures he has recovered eight tons of steel and reused it since he started as a sculptor.
Following his solo show at The Arawak, Dejean is currently working on a new series, once again based on the aesthetics of the body, notably that of the Caribbean woman. To see his work, you can contact the artist on social media or visit the future race village during La Route du Rhum, where he plans to have a stand.
