[« Dictionnaire illustré des sculpteurs animaliers et fondeurs, de l’Antiquité à nos jours » , J.-C. Hachet, Dictionnaires Argus Valentines, Paris 2005, pp303 et 712-713 / "Illustrated Dictionary of Animal Sculptors and Foundries, from Antiquity to the Present", Jean-Charles Hachet, Dictionary Argus Valentines, Paris 2005.]

Judith Devaux, known as Kaos from 1993 to 2000, lived and worked in Paris until 2004. She then moved to Nîmes where she is living now with her husband and two children. She works from her studio there. After studying at the Ecole du Louvre from 1988 to 1993 specialising in Egyptology, she became interested in sculpture and drawing, working under the direction of Robert Juvin and Milan Kusenda. In 1993, she discovered the Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and she realised the potential of working in such a place. From that time on, thanks to the studio she obtained at the Menagerie, she became involved in animal sculpture. Judith Devaux wants to develop a personal style. She tries to express her independence from any artistic movement. People often compare her work with the 1930s which is a compliment and some of her works could be linked to some of François Pompon’s sculptures. But when one looks closely at her sculptures, one can realise that her animals have their own expressions and are the result of a unique personal work with no outside influence from any artistic trend. In all her sculptures, she tries to express her personal feelings: “I work a lot to obtain a balanced work. My idea is to reach harmony. Of course, it is possible to deviate to reach beauty but it is really important for me that the result remains credible. At one moment, I need to forget the subject, the animal as it is, and just focus on the way I wish to tell the story of the animal I am trying to represent”.
Judith Devaux’s research is focused on the sensuality of lines. Humour is also a great part of her work. “I would like, as she says, to make sculptures whose lines and shapes sing, portraying life and joy”.
Judith Devaux has been taking part in exhibitions since 1996. She presented her work at the Salon of the Naturalist Artists at the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution in Paris in 1996, at the Salon National of Animal Artists in Bry-sur-Marne in 1999 and 2000 (she obtained the Foundry Deroyaume Award in 2000). In June 2002, she had a solo exhibition in Paris at the headquarters of the Journaux Officiels. She has been approached for official editions and commissions. In 1998 she produced sixteen trophies in bronze for the pharmaceutical company Schering-Ploug. In 2002, her sculpture 'Crane and baby' was edited in bronze by the Monnaie de Paris and another sculpture 'Zebulon' (her second fish representation) was edited in pate-de-verre by Daum. In the same year, her 'Butterfly' was bought by the Journaux Officiels to be placed in the lobby of their headquarters, located in the 15th district of Paris. Some of her works are produced in the Fonderie du Gour in Auvergne.

[Artistic matters]

« Am I a contemporary artist? »
You have certainly heard one day this question You have certainly at some point in time heard: what is the meaning of the painting Gilles by Watteau.?
Is Art an Emotion to share or a Speech to comment on?
I myself prefer Emotion.

I have repeatedly been surprised to be asked this question : are you a contemporary artist?
(I don’t want to have to say that it is mostly Thomas’s incredulity, because he is my husband and is therefore a daily witness to these experiences.) 
More seriously, encouraged by some friends, I have decided to express myself on this subject.

1. I am alive thus contemporary.
2. My art is realized today thus contemporary.
3. Some associate wrongly the two terms: contemporary and conceptual.

I am going to try to give them an honest answer.  I have spent a lot of time exploring galleries and exhibitions and for me,  the most important aspect to art is the transmission of a sensitive message.
Mediums chosen by artists go from installations to engraving by way of video, photo, painting and dance..
Every time, the artist proposes an emotion to share. For me, to comment on it would mean to admit failure, that the message was not passed on, for lack of artistic means.

This applies to all artists, painters as well as video directors.. I am thus held to the sentence of Proust at the end of his novel “A la recherche du temps perdu”  : "A work of art in which we see the step, is as a present on which we left the price"
“une oeuvre d’art dans laquelle on voit la démarche, c’est comme un cadeau sur lequel on a laissé le prix ».

My animals try to speak to you, of lines and sensuality, if they do not succeed, it is either that I couldn't manage to make them sing the right tune, or that you didn't care for their musicAfter all, Jazz is a great music which annoys me terribly! (And the unfortunate Thomas also knows it!...).

Judith Devaux talks about her work :

          " In each of my sculptures, my objective is twofold: first, after a long observation phase of the animal, I try to catch the general silhouette of the subject. My objective is not to obtain a figurative work but to keep a photographic impression on my eye once the bird has gone. I am after the possible more than the truth. Once the shape printed in my mind, I try to reproduce it until life explodes and expresses its fantasy and exuberance. Warmth and sensuality are essential to me, I would like to create sculptures whose lines and shapes sing, celebrating life, celebrating joy."