The theme of the exhibition is the long-held relationship between Jean-Michel Othoniel’s work, spirituality and sacred artefacts. Since his early work, the artist has used religious, popular and scholarly references. The Veil of Veronica, reliquaries, ex-votos, and votive finery have all inspired his exploration of the real, the body and their relationship, in often enigmatic and coded forms.
Life’s most extreme emotions from birth to death are glorified and spiritualised in fragile artefacts of a troubling beauty. Through the poetics of intimacy, then in his glass works, of décor and seduction, a world appears that confesses its wounds, reveals its ambivalence and resists wonderment.
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Image 1/6, left
Cortège endormi: Bannière n°1, 2003
Blown glass, steel
380 x 61 x 61 cm (149 5/8 x 24 x 24 in.)
Collection of the artist
Image 1/6, center left
Le Cortège endormi: Bannière n°13, 2003
Blown glass, steel
149 5/8 x 24 x 24 in.
Collection of the artist
Image 1/6, center
Le Cortège endormi: Bannière n°4, 2003
Blown glass, steel
137 3/4 x 39 3/8 x 23 5/8 in.
Collection CIRVA / Marseille
Image 1/6, center right
Le Cortège endormi: Bannière n°2, 2003
Blown glass, steel
149 5/8 x 24 x 24 in.
Collection of the artist
Image 1/6, right
Cortège endormi: Bannière n°9, 2003
Steel, blown glass
159 1/2 x 24 x 24 in.
Collection of the artist
Image 2/6, left
Precious Stonewall, 2014
Indian mirrored glass, wood
28 3/8 x 21 5/8 x 9 in.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Image 2/6, left
Precious Stonewall, 2014
Indian mirrored glass, wood
38 5/8 x 30 1/2 x 9 in.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Image 2/6, gauche
Precious Stonewall, 2012
Indian mirrored glass, wood
29 7/8 x 21 5/8 x 8 5/8 in.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Image 2/6, center
L'Hermaphrodite, 1993
Molded sulphur, snail shells
Variables dimensions
Collection Musée d'art moderne de Saint Etienne
Image 2/6, right
La Mandorle d'or, 2014
Murano glass, gold leaf, metal
59 x 23 5/8 x 5 7/8 in.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Image 3/6, left
L'In Noir, 2010
Mirrored glass, metal
116 7/8 x 472 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Image 3/6, center
Blackstone, 2014
Obsidian
33 1/2 x 23 5/8 x 17 3/4 in.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Image 3/6, right
Amant Suspendu, 2014
Murano glass, steel
26 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in.
Courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Image 5/6
La Croix d’or, 2014
Murano glass beads, steel, golden leave
38 1/4 x 24 3/8 x 7 7/8 in.
Private collection
Image 6/6, left
Vierge de douleur, 1990
Wax, sulphur, plaster, phosphorus painting, star, clown nose, glass heart
47 1/4 x 47 1/4 x 5 7/8 in.
Private collection
Image 6/6, right
Le Glyphe des Anges, 2002
Framed watercolors on paper
14 1/8 x 18 1/8 x 1 3/8 in.
Collection of the artist