Open Space #1 Jean-Marie Appriou

Open Space is a programme dedicated to the most contemporary expressions of creativity, which invites national and international artists to create site-specific projects. Open Space takes place regularly in different settings around Frank Gehry’s building.

In recent years, Jean-Marie Appriou has developed an approach to sculpture in which he appropriates traditional craftsmanship and subverts it to expand its potential. Working alone or with skilled artisans, he explores materials, such as aluminium, glass, bronze and terracotta, using unconventional processes. From these alchemic experiments emerge human, animal and plant forms that relate to and complement one another to create different scenarios. This fantastical world, which inspires wonder and occasionally unease, draws on a variety of influences from Egyptian mythology to Pre-Raphaelite painting, from science-fiction literature to film and cartoon strips.

For Open Space, Jean-Marie Appriou presents a new work, Lips and Ears, 2018, a monumental sculpture in aluminium of two heads, supported by a boat. Anonymous and universal, these frozen figures seem to share a secret, and impose their mysterious and timeless presence on their surroundings.