Many of us will count hours spent playing with plasticine as one of our earliest creative experiences, and possibly the only one with sculpture for some. However, the smudged messes sticking to the carpet and getting under our nails that we remember couldn’t be further from the beautiful sculptures made by Alexandra Bruel.
By using plasticine, Alexandra exploits its bright colours and flexibility as a material and retains the fun, playfulness that we associate with it. By rolling it out, manipulating it as you would clay, and cutting it precisely with a scalpel, she manages to draw out a lot more than you might expect from such a familiar product.
Alexandra has worked on a broad spectrum of projects with plasticine. As well as the 3D work, she has used it to create flat images (although you still might not call them quite 2D) and has also used the technique with stop motion animation. Below is a short she created in collboration with film director, Eric Beaupré as well as images from work for Vogue and Fricote Mag.
“I’m a french art director and illustrator based in Paris. I studied graphic design at the Gobelins School in Paris and during my degree I began to work with plasticine. I’ve been playing with the material ever since.
I’m represented by Handsome Frank, a London-based agency and work for an array of clients across the advertising and design sector. I work in a workshop near Paris which was the former studio of cinema in the 1900s.”
© Alexandra Bruel, 2013
