Géométries Amoureuses

The CRAC in Sète presents an exhibition composed of a new series of monumental works. Inspired by the forms of nature, it presents a journey close to a radical, monochrome and abstract architecture. These new works of glass, mirror, metal, ink or obsidian show how the artist’s work has evolved since his retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in 2011.

On the ground floor, the exhibition welcomes the visitors with a colossal wave, six metres high and fifteen meters long, composed of more than ten thousand bricks of black glass. Specially designed for the venue, this work echoes with the first photograph taken in Sète in 1857 by Gustave Le Gray, entitled La Grande Vague. In the following rooms, the visitors will discover mysterious meteorites in obsidian – the black rock which results from the lava of volcanoes – as well as a series of previously unseen works, made on canvas and entitled Black Lotus, surrounding eponymous sculptures. The final rooms of the exhibition display the violence of the elements, represented by a series of gigantic steel tornadoes hanging in space, and a large knot of coloured glass beads, The Wild Pansy, a tribute to the freedom of being different.

On the first floor, one hundred and twelve drawings, like a large travel diary made between 1996 and 2017, reveal the artist’s thought process and the genesis of many of his works.

With this project, the artist presents a set of works that show a strong connection with Sète and the architecture of the art centre. To end more than twenty years as head of the Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain, Noëlle Tissier chose Jean-Michel Othoniel, the artist she invited in 1988 for the opening
of the Villa Saint Clair artist residency in Sète.