Pierre Sgamma — The Helmeted Rider

This ceramic sculpture, signed by Pierre Sgamma, poetically and ironically overturns the traditional figure of the rider. The man, standing firmly on his two legs and naked beneath his helmet, carries his mount around his waist — an imaginary creature, half horse and half toy, adorned with intricate, vibrant patterns.

Here, it is the man who carries the horse, reversing the traditional balance of power and questioning the relationship of domination between human and animal, body and mind, reality and symbol.

The raw, warm terracotta combines with dark, matte pigments and oxides. The modelling, at once naïve and expressive, gives the figure a disarming humanity, blending humour with gravity. The helmet, reminiscent of a modern pilot’s gear, hides the face and turns this man into a universal archetype — a witness of courage and vulnerability intertwined.

A former equestrian, Pierre Sgamma transposes into his work the physical memory of being on horseback: tension, balance, and trust between two beings. His sculptures, often centred on the human figure, reflect his search for a dialogue between strength and fragility. Since the 1990s, he has explored ceramics as a living material, capable of expressing interiority and metamorphosis. His world, peopled with hybrid figures, dreamers or fighters, evokes both mythology and the intimate theatre of contemporary man.

With this Rider, the artist seems to celebrate the childhood of the world — a time when play, fear and tenderness still coexisted. The man, burdened by his animal, advances without weapons or a true mount, but with the lucid awareness of carrying his own legend.