BETWEEN MYTH, SACRED AND REALITY
This summer, at the Metaxu gallery in Toulon, a total collective installation pushed back the boundaries of the visual, decorative and sound arts, inspired by William Morris's epic poem The Earthly Paradise.
David Herman, creative director and curator of global narrative experiences, continues to demonstrate creativity, imagination and innovation. For more than fifteen years, his career has embraced cross-disciplinary experiments in fashion, decorative arts, gastronomy, music and cinema. From Condé Nast to the Centre Pompidou, via the Cannes Film Festival and Pierre Yovanovitch, he collaborates with numerous artists, agencies and magazines to create universes and settings with a strong narrative content.
This summer, in Toulon, at the Metaxu gallery, a place for research and creation, he teamed up with multidisciplinary artists Audrey Guimard, Lia Rochas-Pàris and Clara Gobert to create "The Earthly Paradise: At the source of the world after".
This total installation was inspired by William Morris's epic poem, a collection of mythical and legendary tales first published in 1868. The author expressed his need and quest for a better life on Earth. David Herman has extracted the very essence of this story in a lyrical narrative combining visual, decorative and sound arts.
THE SACRED AND MODERNITY
This re-appropriation of The Earthly Paradise is conceived as a universe in which the mythical origins of the world mingle with the refined, realistic aesthetics of a hotel room. The exhibition featured a mix of sculptural works in plaster, wall collages of surreal silhouettes, unique objects and monumental furniture. These phantasmagorical settings were enriched by contemplative tablecloths by Benoît Bottex, antiques chosen by Arles-based gallery owner Anne Carpentier, and a selection of pieces by designer Axel Chay.
Visitors were drawn into a holistic experience involving the sacred, art and innovation, with the central theme of water, symbol of life, purification and rebirth. "With the depletion of such a vital resource, the exhibition above all raises the question of the sacralization of our domestic spaces," explains David Herman.
DISTANT PAST AND COSMIC FUTURE
The artists re-instilled this element with its saving power "without losing ourselves in the illusion that paradise lies elsewhere". Like William Morris's epic poem, this hybrid world sounded Greek and Norse mythologies, while the soundtrack underlined the fear of imminent chaos, echoing contemporary society.
What's more, he pushed his thinking to the crossroads of "historical archaism and poetic avant-garde, raw minerality and feminine sensuality, mythological iconography and esoteric strangeness". In this way, everything contributed to illustrating the vision of the end of civilization and the quest for a better future. This immersive approach was punctuated by a series of happenings during the exhibition, reinforcing Metaxu's role as a key player on the Mediterranean art scene.
METAXU.FR
