KNOWN FOR HIS CHOCOLATE SCUPLTURES, PATRICK ROGER SPEAKS OF THIS MATERIAL AS A MEDIUM: A TOOL FOR EXPRESSING AND SHARING IDEAS. EVERY YEAR, SEVERAL DOZEN PIECES ARE CREATED IN HIS WORKSHOP. SOME OF THEM ARE THEN REPRODUCED IN METAL BY FOUNDRIES.
Text by Mégane Fleury - photographs by Alessandro Silvestri
Patrick Roger is a unique character in an extraordinary position.
The chocolatier, artist and sculptor works in a 2,000 square meter pastry kitchen in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine (92). The space is divided into several floors and organized by glass partitions. A dozen chocolatiers are busy making candies, bars and other chocolate creations. As the day draws to a close and the team leaves, Patrick Roger begins to create. “I'm a workaholic," he admits. “I have to work 130 hours a week, which used to be 150. Last night I created four sculptures, for example."
Patrick Roger is guided by his instinct and passion, sometimes bordering on obsession. A few years ago, he discovered the art of working with sugar and spent over two hours a day creating with it. "It didn't help me with the chocolate. But this almost manic way of doing things is in my nature, I'm passionate about everything."
He defines chocolate as his material, a way of expressing himself and sharing ideas. "When people see the sculptures, I don't need to explain them," he says.
They all reflect a point of view, and even a commitment. Climate change is one of the chocolatier's main concerns. For Environment Day, on June 5, he presented various creations, including whale sharks and another called Savon 50 Sea Shepherd, named after the ocean protection association. The piece seems to evoke an ice floe under attack. "We need activists like them," he warns. Other sculptures question respect for human rights. "These situations affect me deeply, I think of the children who don't have access to education and who nobody cares about. Is it because I didn't really get an education at school that this affects me? I don't know."
Through sculpture, he has found a way to apply images and textures to his thoughts and feelings, free from pretension. What can we do for this Environment Day?" he asks. What story to tell? Even though our businesses have a monstrous impact, when you think of all our suppliers, all the products we receive and the problems linked to cocoa."
This subject is a common thread running through his work. On the other hand, when you listen to his story, art seems to have come into his life by chance, while at the same time remaining an obvious choice. “I don't know how it came to me," he admits. I've never been to a museum in my life, so I didn't set out to do this. I didn't choose this, it wasn’t intentional. It's innate. There's this vibration for the material and the technique, but I don't know where it comes from."
Patrick Roger was born in 1968 in Le Poislay, "a village of 80 inhabitants", in the Loir-et-Cher region (41). A poor student, he didn't choose his path, and started an apprenticeship in pastry-making. He quickly excelled: after two years, he finished second out of 100 apprentices in the region. The top two apprentices were hired by Parisian chef, Pierre Mauduit. Patrick Roger first worked there as a pastry chef, before moving on to chocolate making. This default rotation is a revelation. The young craftsman's talent was soon revealed, and he produced his first artistic pieces.
Ten years after his encounter with chocolate, Patrick Roger won the World Chocolate Cup in 1994. “Some people have a vibration, something that's inside them, without having decided on it," he explains. It could be music or cooking, but what makes them successful? I don't have the answer." In 2000, he became a Meilleur Ouvrier de France chocolatier. "I took the M.O.F. because I enjoyed the challenge. When I signed up, I only knew how to make two of the chocolates on the list." At the competition, he presented the piece "Harold", a cocoa farmer, crouched down at work.
As for the rest of the creations made for that day, the chocolatier can't remember a thing. "I can’t remember anything," he admits. His memories are gone, but his sculptures remain. Since the 2000s, they have been transformed from chocolate to metal. This technique allows you to preserve your work. "Chocolate is still my starting point, just as Alberto Giacometti had plaster," he compares. Is Patrick Roger now more of a chocolatier or an artist? “I’m not interested in defining myself," he says. “In any case, one thing is certain: it's global. I'm everything at once. It's like a piece of music, if you take a piece out, it doesn't work." In his work, art, material and technique are now inseparable.