The French Riviera harbors far more than what meets the eye.

Like Christian Champin's metallic monkey pictured above, Surabaya, currrently enjoying a bit of sunshine in Grimaud opposite St Tropez.

Born to a car body repair dad, the self-named "scrap metal alchemist" Christiam Champin grew up around his father's workshop - a treasure trove of scrap metal pieces. He loved tinkering in hid dad's shop.

Today, Christian revels in his own workshop where 80 tons of industrial metalic waste await a new faith. 

With great quantities of inspired welding, Christian shapes old radiators, broken engines, twisted pipes and dumped broken boat propellers into surreal creatures.

Each of his metallic phoenix-like creatures has a story to tell about our scrap society, albeit with a good amount of love and humour.

Meet "Rillette", the 100 kg pig. 

Christian lives in the Loire Atlantique region, but his creatures travel to the French Riviera.
They will find themselves at the Salle St Esprit in Valbonne: April 4 - May 26, 2014 and from July 15 to end of August 2014. Check out his web site for further info.

You will find some of Christian Champin's sculptures on permanent  expo in Grimaud at the Atelier GECA art gallery. 

The film below speaks of an expo which took place in 2010 in Saint-Aygulf by the beach of Fréjus, but it offers a great set-up of Christian's work presented on the sunny beaches of St Aygulf.