The French artist presents 260 works throughout 10 historic websites in Avignon — a metropolis as soon as house to popes
Korea Herald correspondent
AVIGNON, France — As you enter the Calvet Museum in Avignon, a stainless-steel lotus set up rests quietly within the courtyard. Stepping nearer, you would possibly start to ponder infinity as you end up endlessly mirrored within the giant, mirrored beads alongside reflections of the beads themselves and the encircling panorama.
“You see your self hundreds of occasions, and also you see the piece additionally mirrored by itself,” French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel mentioned on Oct. 22.
“It’s concerning the concept of the micro and the macro cosmos — the universe and the planet. The present is titled ‘Cosmos,’ as a result of it’s about considering the sky and the celebs, but in addition the very small issues in which you’ll be able to undertaking your self,” he added.
Othoniel’s artwork washes over town of Avignon, with 260 works on view throughout 10 places within the largest exhibition ever dedicated to a single artist. Titled “Othoniel Cosmos or the Ghosts of Love,” the exhibition is centered on the Palais des Papes, the previous papal residence.
Hopping over to the Requien Museum, town’s pure historical past museum, one can perceive how the artist’s installations impressed by flowers — lotuses and roses — and people harking back to the infinity signal have developed.
Othoniel’s fascination with flowers is revealed within the sketches, drawings and fashions displayed in a room on the museum that feels just like the artist’s studio.
Following the works scattered alongside town looks like happening a treasure hunt, discovering each Avignon and the tales behind Othoniel’s artwork. Othoniel typically explores themes of affection, transformation and therapeutic by remodeling supplies — most famously glass, stainless-steel and gold-leaf stainless-steel — into luminous monumental kinds.
“It was a protracted journey to reach at glass, however I actually love this materials as a result of it’s a cloth that adjustments kind — it’s liquid and strong. I like to work with this materials of metamorphosis,” the artist mentioned.
To Othoniel, glass embodies magnificence and universality, one thing that everyone can relate to. 1994 marked a turning level in his profession, collaborating with glassworkers in Murano, northern Italy, to delve into the fabric that has since develop into his signature.
He has since collaborated with glass blowers in India, Switzerland and Venice, every providing distinct strategies and colours, in response to the artist.
The treasure hunt continues to Chapelle Sainte-Claire, a 14th-century chapel. Othoniel’s heart-shaped, glass-bead sculpture in bloody crimson, titled “Kokoro.” The work is dedicated to the chapel the place, in 1337, the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) first noticed Laura de Noves, a married noblewoman, to whom he would commit his life. The girl’s flaxen hair interwoven with beads fluttered within the wind that day, a word on the chapel reads.
Petrarch’s devotion remained purely non secular, giving delivery to the concept of “platonic love,” shaping centuries of Western romantic thought.
“I like to work on historic websites. I like to make connections with the previous,” Othoniel mentioned.
A brief stroll from the chapel is the Palais des Papes the place the 10-meter-high “L’Astrolabe” stands tall. The popes lived within the palace from 1309 to 1377, a interval referred to as the Avignon Papacy, when the papal court docket moved from Rome underneath French affect.
Othoniel showcases a complete of 133 items, together with 106 new sculptures designed particularly for the Palais des Papes. Guests are guided via 15 places and rooms contained in the palace.
One of many highlights is the Grand Tinel, as soon as used for receptions by popes, the place 60 oil work on white gold leaf plates of assorted sizes, impressed by the artist’s herbarium, are on show. They haven’t been seen in France for the reason that Louvre acquired the artist’s roses in white gold leaf in 2019.
“It’s actually a dialogue with the structure and historical past of the positioning. I rediscover these websites and attempt to make them extra poetic and make a sensual reference to them,” Othoniel mentioned. “In reality, it is a poetic journey within the metropolis.”
The artist’s works are additionally situated at a medieval bridge referred to as Pont Saint-Benezet, or the Bridge of Avignon, and the Bains Pommer, a museum as soon as used as a public bathtub. There, 12 glass fountains curl up within the privateness of the remedy rooms.
The town-wide Avignon exhibition runs via Jan. 4, 2026. This yr marks the twenty fifth anniversary of town being named a European Capital of Tradition. Additionally it is the thirtieth anniversary of its itemizing as a UNESCO World Heritage web site.
Othoniel held a solo exhibition on the Seoul Museum of Artwork in 2022, and in 2026 will current a undertaking coinciding with the Busan Biennale.
