Art of French Living at Lafayette Art and Design Center (Part 2)-JJGLE.COM

Art of French Living at Lafayette Art and Design Center (Part 2)

More than 76 works of art by 19 French Art Masters will be exhibited and many salons focusing on different topics will be held during this exhibition.

(Editor: Leona)

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France, The French Federation of Craft Professionals and the Lafayette Art & Design Center are hosting a joint exhibition around the theme “French Art Tour —The Art of French Living” along with a series of activities.

More than 76 works of art by 19 French Art Masters will be exhibited and many salons focusing on different topics will be held during this exhibition. The event aims to create a bridge and a platform for cultural exchanges between France and China by exhibiting high quality contemporary French handicraft artworks and creative artworks for the audience to admire.

伊莎贝拉•埃米尔克
Isabelle Emmerique

Born in 1957
Based in Colombes, France

After graduating from ENSAMAA• Olivier de Serres, Isabelle Emmerique has taught the art of lacquer there since 1998. She likes the contradictions of this material. For her, each piece becomes an aesthetic and a technical challenge as she combines her know •how of European lacquer with Asian decoration processes: engraving or placing of gold leaf and pigments, creating pieces with supple and satin surfaces, which are typical of her technique. In 2005, she was awarded the Grand Prix of the Kanazawa• Ishikawa Triennial (Japan), the first time it went to a Western lacquer artist. In 2006, Isabelle Emmerique was named "Maître d'art" by the French Ministry of Culture.

Wave 波/ 100 x 20 x 7 cm, Lacquer, 2013 © Isabelle Emmerique

La Porte des Femmes 女性之门 La Porte des Femmes / 122 x 80 cm, Lacquer, 2008 © Isabelle Emmerique

约翰•噶兹达
Jean Gazdac

Born in 1956
Based in Autun, France

Jean Gazdac combines the use of molten crystal with other materials, such as wood or metal, in order to create original sculptures. Because of the fragility of the materials used, his pieces digress from their primary and utilitarian function. Tools and other objects are turned into authentic works of art, useless, fragile, absurd and beautiful. Each piece has a precise meaning, such as Impossible crucifixion, which features nails that are unable to penetrate any flesh and a hammer that would break on first impact. His pieces question the fragility of human kind and its beauty. In this sense, they have a universal significance.

① : Wrenches 扳手/ 18 x 8 cm (each), Crystal and iron, 2013 © Jean Gazdac
② : Impossible crucifixion 不可能绞刑/ Pile dimensions: 21 x 30 cm, Crystal and wood, 2012 © Jean Gazdac

Keep his irons hot machine 趁热打铁/ 49 x 38 x 24 cm, Crystal and metal, 2012 © Jean Gazdac

贝特朗•拉孤儿
Bertrand Lacourt

Born in 1963
Based in Arcueil, France

After training at the École Boulle and spending twenty years in luxury cabinetmaking and fitting, Bertrand Lacourt returned to the source, namely traditional wood processing. His furniture is carved directly from tree trunks, sculpted out of a single piece of wood, without any assembly: they are monoxylas. The design is contemporary, uncluttered, clean and limpid so that the intrinsic qualities of the material, its natural patterns and the richness of its texture may come to the fore. By being functional and minimalist, the furniture aims at a kind of transparency, revealing the tree’s powerful presence.

① : Banbrux 班步璐/ 74 x 48 x 42 cm, Wood (oak), 2012 © DR
② : Chadro 夏德罗/ 102 x 54 x 39 cm, Wood (oak), 2013 © DR

Charub 夏洛/ 102 x 41 x 44 cm, Wood (oak), 2013 © DR

劳伦斯•乐和尔
Laurence Lehel

Born in 1967
Based in La Frette sur Seine, France

A graduate of the Beaux Arts School of Angers and the remarkable École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris, Laurence Lehel has worked as a textile designer for famous Couture houses such as Chloé or Yves Saint•Laurent. For several years now, she has been sculpting paper; a material that she is passionate about, using daily newspaper patterns to create unique pieces of arts, accessories, clothes, and even insects. She tears, sticks, aggregates texts and pictures from various smartly selected papers and news magazines to create personal, humorous and poetic collections, certified “pure paper” and deeply rooted in the French culture, like the selection of pieces she presents here.

Paname Mules 巴拿马（女鞋）/ 20 x 16 x 8 cm, Paper, 2014 © Laurence Lehel

Nous Deux Blouse 我们俩（上衣）/ 60 x 38 x 16 cm, Paper, 2014 © Laurence Lehel

梅熹
Marie Minhac

Born in 1960
Based in France

Duperré graduate Marie Minhac's career path began with paint, which provided her with both liberation and room to explore. At the same time, she started creating her first clay sculptures. In 2001, she discovered mosaic with Briare enamel and opened up her brightly coloured world to us. Since then, she has been mixing her mosaics with new materials (sandstone, tadelakt), thereby revisiting an ancient art form in her very own way. Her frescoes, which blend modernity with tradition, invite us on a continuously renewed journey through a whimsical and personalised universe.

① : Refraction 1 折射1 / 53 x 53 cm, Mosaic, 2014 © Marie Minhac
② : Abstraction Rouge et Or (Red and Gold Abstraction) 红金抽象画/
107 x 107 cm, Mosaic, 2013 © Marie Minhac

阿涅斯•尼沃
Agnès Nivot

Born in 1955
Based in Paris, France

Agnès Nivot was born in Paris and still lives, works and teaches there. A ceramist sculptor, she trained in Ireland before perfecting her skills in New York, Mexico and Burkina Faso. She works exclusively with clay, which she says is evocative and complete; and draws inspiration from the symbolic shapes of the antique civilisations of continents, the memory of which she strives to render. Her work, which is sober and uncluttered, as reflected by the Anneaux, plays upon the diversity of surfaces, rugged or polished, engobed or weathered, glazed or waxed, and is created in varying brown and grey tones as well as other dark hues. Agnès Nivot has already had the opportunity to introduce her work in China, during the China Art exhibition, where the local public was extremely appreciative.