Biography
"Technique should serve emotion,
not the other way around"
Charlie Chaplin
An innovative and demanding artistic approach
Trained as an engineer, Olivier Barrois spent a long time observing art before dedicating himself to it. Passionate about the history of styles and forms, he one day felt the need to create himself, to translate what he sees and feels, to give substance to emotion. In his studio, each line, each curve becomes a quest for balance between rigor and sensitivity. His sculptures are dialogues between order and movement, technical precision and the vibration of life.
Fascinated by automobiles, he revisits motorsports through bas-reliefs of rare intensity. Where others reproduce, he interprets. He evokes emotion where only performance remained: a car emerging from a bend seems to literally rush towards us, like a memory flashing through our minds. The artist plays with "transcendence"—transcendence of oneself, of time, of matter. His pieces evoke memories: the roar of an engine, the beauty of a curve, the momentum of a frozen moment. Everything is a matter of perspective placed at the service of emotion.
In femininity, he explores another kind of mystery: that of forms, the complexity of emotions, and psychology. He seeks to simplify without betraying, to express the essence of inner movement. His busts and portraits, imbued with a quiet strength, convey the depths of the soul.
Through bronze, stone, or marble, he sculpts beauty as one seeks truth: slowly, with exacting standards and humility. Patina then becomes a language in its own right—that of light and memory.
Olivier Barrois does not seek the easy path. Each work is a challenge, an intimate struggle with the material. He can spend years developing an idea before it takes shape. Unlike his wife, the sculptor Linda Mergulhão, whose approach is instinctive, he patiently builds his universe, layer by layer.
Together, they form a united couple in life as in art, two different voices of the same passion. Their works, already acclaimed in France and internationally, carry within them the same truth: that of a creation born from the necessity to exist, to feel, and to communicate.
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Passionate about art history, admiring works from all eras, Olivier Barrois decided more than 20 years ago to cross the barrier and create too. He then turned without hesitation towards sculpture and mastered various techniques and materials for his creations: earth, marble, stone, iron and bronze.
He set up his workshop but also regularly attended the Ateliers de la Cour Roland in Jouy-en-Josas, a melting pot of high-level artists and craftsmen in many fields of the arts and crafts.
His artistic universe around car passion and femininity finds inspiration in the marbles of Antiquity and the Renaissance, the art of busts from the 18th and 19th centuries, the Art Deco period and Modern Art from the 20th century.
However, he has always been careful to think outside the box, moving away from the easy path of very commercial subjects that, in this field as in others, saturate the market. It is therefore a demanding path where each work takes all the time necessary to be created, must bring something new, if possible something never seen before.
As complete sculptor, he masters the creation of large marble statues, life-size bust portraits, contemporary sculptures in stone or iron, and bas-reliefs in earth and bronze.
Trained as an engineer, he is particularly interested in shapes, lines and the treatment of perspective.
His bronze work "Désir" received the Public Prize at an exhibition in the prestigious hall of honor of the art deco town hall of Puteaux, while his bronze work "Dépassement" won an award in 2023 at the Salon des Arts at the Parisian mansion CentraleSupelec on the Champs Elysées, then was the poster and huesty of honor for the same show in 2024.
Also passionate about car racing since his childhood and more recently taking the wheel on the circuits, the unconscious or the chance of circumstances led him to create his first automobile bas-relief in 2023.
Since then, the projects have followed one another to always surprise the viewer with innovative and surprising perspectives, far from a simple reduction to scale as we very often see in automobile works. He wants to push the technique of bas-relief ever further in the service of automobile passion.
In addition, he made the demanding choice for his bronzes to work with the best art founders in France, labeled "Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant" (Living Heritage Company) French and known for their creations signed for the greatest sculptors and the great monuments of France, sometimes for several centuries.
His works are now perceived as a luxury production. They are rare, entirely made by hand with a noble and thousand-year-old material, over a long time by the artist and by extremely rare skills of crafts that justify the signature of the great art founders on the works. In addition, they are in all respects compliant with the code of ethics that authorizes their designation of "original art bronze" on the art market. All this ultimately securing their artistic and heritage value.
He now works and exhibits regularly with his wife Linda, painter and sculptor, who joined him in the automobile passion.
They are currently distinguished by their prestigious exhibitions in legendary locations such as Le Mans Circuit during the 24 Heures, the Château de Chantilly Concours d'Elegance, the Grand Palais, the Carrousel du Louvre, the Champs Elysées or the Parc des Expositions in Paris, the Porsche Casting gathering in Deauville or the Epoqu'Auto Show in Lyon.