Nicolas Deshayes

Nicolas Deshayes

From Talk Art by Russell Tovey and Robert Diament

March 13, 2026 · 1h 6m · Season 27 · Episode 4

About this episode

This episode features sculptor Nicolas Deshayes discussing his exploration of form and materiality in his works.

Talk Art Season 27 continues with sculptor Nicolas Deshayes whose works explore the form and materiality of bodies and what happens below their surfaces. Hosted by Robert Diament. Process, or processing, is the impetus for Deshayes’ sculptures, which manage to convey states of liquid, hardness, hot, cold, and mechanically produced objects and systems. Vital processes of ingestion, and circulation, are evoked by elegantly utilitarian forms. Deshayes’ surfaces are consistently impermeable – recalling the architecture of public amenities. Using predominantly casting methods with bronze, iron, or earthenware, Deshayes tends to seek out artisans and factories who specialise in techniques of production; their historical lineages and geographical particularities converging within his conceptualisation of the work as it develops. Extreme heat is used in these casting processes commonly and the materials rely on changes in temperature in order to come alive. But molten metal rapidly hardens into a solid form, its movement as if suspended in time. Deshayes has recently rendered some of these sculptures functional again, plumbing hot water around a room, or pumping water into public ponds…

People in this episode

Host: Robert Diament

Guest: Nicolas Deshayes

Topics covered

  • sculpture
  • materiality
  • bodies
  • casting methods
  • functional art
  • public amenities

Keywords

  • sculptor
  • materiality
  • casting
  • bronze
  • iron
  • earthenware
  • functional sculptures
  • public art

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