Othoniel - Géométries Amoureuses

Exhibition - Géométries AmoureusesPhoto courtesy of Othoniel — Exhibition - Géométries Amoureuses
Photo courtesy of Othoniel

The French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, best known for his sinuous glass dancing fountains in the Versailles palace gardens, has a dramatic two-part show running this summer in the south of France.

The Riviera's sun-kissed beaches are great for summer romance. But if you've had enough of sand, sea and the clubbing scene, Othoniel's show puts an alternative gloss on love. Called "Geometries Amoureuses", it's about relationships -- but these are relationships of form, space and substance, and also the relationship of matter to inner meanings, the material mirroring the spirit of its creator.

one half of the show is housed in the Carré Sainte Anne, a deconsecrated baroque church in history-laden Montpellier ; the other is 30 km away in a White Cube-style quayside arts center in the fishing port of Sete. The two halves are quite different but together they form a comprehensive survey of the artist's career.

In Montpellier, Othoniel is showing creations from the past 30 years, ranging from early works in sulphur to his transition to glass and his signature giant glass bead necklaces. The centerpiece is a carpet of mirrored blue glass bricks that flows like a magical river through the show.

For Othoniel, the enchanting and beautiful often has a darker side --like his 'collier cicatrice,' a lovely, coloful, hanging necklace that references the black lynchings of the American South.

In Sete, the regional contemporary art center, CRAC, is showing his recent creations, produced in the last couple of years. The works here are mostly monumental and essentially monochrome. The centerpiece is a giant glass wave. Enormous, scintillating and shimmering, weighing in at 25 tons and made up of 10,000 translucent bricks, it appears to be suspended in space, a dark elemental creature thrusting itself forward, transforming into a rolling monster. At first sight black, the bricks reverberate with inner refracted colours -- black, green and occasionally sea-blue suffused with tinges of red.

In other rooms are rare paintings on canvas, sculptures in black volcanic obsidian and sculptures inspired by tornados and the elemental violence of nature. Kinetic installations suspended in space or balancing on a single axis these grandiose swirling steely beads represent a remarkable engineering feat.

" For me the tornado is a metaphor for creation itself," Othoniel says.

Article by Claudia Barbieri

法国艺术家尚·米歇尔·欧托尼耶（Jean-Michel Othoniel）以其在凡尔赛宫花园中蜿蜒的玻璃音乐喷泉而闻名，今年夏天在法国南部举办了一场包括两部分的戏剧表演。

里维埃拉的阳光沙滩对夏日浪漫来说棒极了。但是，如果你有足够的沙滩，大海和俱乐部的场面，Othoniel的表演会给爱情带来另一种光泽。所谓的“几何图形”，是关于关系的——但这些是形式、空间和物质的关系，以及物质与内在意义的关系，其反映了创造者的精神。

一半表演被安置在Carré Sainte Anne，一座满载历史的蒙彼利埃的巴洛克式教堂;另一部分表演是在三十公里外的一个白色立体式码头艺术中心，位于塞特渔港。这两部分是完全不同的，但它们一起构成了对艺术家职业生涯的全面调查。

在蒙佩利埃，Othoniel展示了过去30年的创作，从早期的硫磺作品，到他的玻璃作品以及他标志性的巨型玻璃串珠项链。它的中心是一层由镜面的蓝色玻璃砖组成的地毯，在表演中中像一条神奇的河流一样流淌。

对于Othoniel来说，迷人美丽的事物通常有着更阴暗的一面——就像他的“collier cicatrice”一样，这是一种可爱多彩的悬挂式项链，而它则是引用了美国南方的黑人私刑。

在塞特的当代艺术中心，CRAC，展示了他近几年创作的作品。这些作品大多是纪念性的，其基本上是单色的。中心是巨大闪闪发光的玻璃波，由1万块半透明的砖块组成，重达25吨，它似乎悬浮在空中，像一个黑暗的生物将它自己向前推进，变成了一个滚动的怪物。乍一看是黑色的，但是砖块会产生内折射的颜色——黑色、绿色，偶尔还会泛着蓝色，又似乎充满了红色。

在其他的房间里有在帆布上的稀有绘画、黑色火山石雕塑以及来自龙卷风和其他大自然暴力元素所激发创造的雕塑。在空中悬挂的动能装置或单轴保持平衡，这些宏伟的旋转钢珠代表着一项了不起的工程壮举。

“对我来说，龙卷风是创作本身的一种隐喻，”Othoniel说。

文章由 Claudia Barbieri 所著