Nicolas Fédorenko

Nicolas Fédorenko | Painter and ceramist

Born in 1949. Lives and works in Pont-Croix. Wild, Fédorenko; solitary and sunny, but not untouchable. [...] Solar, yes, when he designs street furniture for Place Graslin in Nantes, for example, or stained glass windows for chapels. Wild and solitary, Fédo. That's why I welcomed him into my studio. He was at ease in this rural loft open to the four winds. And then there was the real motivation. He'd been working the land for a long time. As a trainee, he'd bring clay samples from his garden, and wasn't shy about crushing and sifting raw materials. I've got photos of the two of us where, standing in front of a basin of enamel, he'd say to me, "Come on, let's get the sauce on!" A gourmet to boot! [...] Now he's exercising his greed alone. He learned quickly, because he understood that there were no secrets, and therefore no inhibitions. Fédorenko is a painter, but he doesn't make ceramics as a painter. It is as a ceramist that he answers the questions he asks himself as a painter; by a kind of integrity, he lets himself be guided by the material he has chosen. [...]

Michel Le Gentil
Catalog extract C14 PARIS, 2021