Jean-Marie Appriou. crossing the parallel worlds. 2018. cast aluminium. 250 x 170 x 100cm. Photo Courtesy of Stefan Altenburger & Galerie Eva Presenhuber Zurich/New York

Galeria Eva Presenhuber present their first solo show with Jean-Marie Appriou and visitors are asked to consider the cyclical nature of life as they undertake this experience.

Regeneration Is Apart Of Everyones Lives

When you walk through this carefully crafted space you notice the often-raw finish and heavily worked surfaces on each sculpture, giving you a sense that the artist is there with you, you are experiencing the show and he is personally curating you.

Jean-Marie Appriou. the breath of the suns. 2018. cast aluminium. 220 x 150 x 40cm. Photo Courtesy of Stefan Altenburger & Galerie Eva Presenhuber Zurich/New York

Through his textured and expressive sculptures, objects, reliefs, and installations, Jean-Marie Appriou’s artistic process touches on an expansive range of cultural references. As broad as his cultural references are, his mix of materials are broader, ranging from salt crystals, fabrics to glass. However, his principal mediums are ceramic and metals.

Jean-Marie Appriou. The race of the sun and the moon. 2018. cast aluminium. 250 x 150 x 40cm. Photo Courtesy of Stefan Altenburger & Galerie Eva Presenhuber Zurich/New York

In this exhibition, sunlight touches cast aluminium as we pass through daytime in Autumn. Fields of sunflowers and corn are flanked by the omnipresent face of the moon as a celestial reminder of inevitable, cyclical change. Lost in the journey through the stages of life, resembled through the fullness and health of a good harvest, around to the withered and cut stalks which soon enough will bring back life to the table only through its demise. The show is a period of transition, in the framework of the last days of the harvest. We witness corn flattened by the elements, which is symbolically accompanied and made evident by Charon’s coins placed over their eyes of a sculpted face. Appriou explores how death comes all of a sudden, yet at the same time the end of life is a welcome and necessary impending state, in-order to create and enrich new life.

Jean-Marie Appriou. Cypress Shadow. 2018. Cast aluminium. 265 x 74 x 54cm. Photo Courtesy of Stefan Altenburger & Galerie Eva Presenhuber Zurich/New York

His artistic ability is undebatable as you see the heart-shaped leaves of the sunflowers perform the role of ex-votos, when their petals recede and give way to the seeds arranged in fractal patterns. As well as the Cypress trees, which carry the weight of the space between life and death, earth and sky, displaying their silhouettes as gracious as they are haunting.

Jean-Marie Appriou. Crossing the parallel worlds. 2018. cast aluminium. 250 x 170 x 100cm. Photo Courtesy of Stefan Altenburger & Galerie Eva Presenhuber Zurich/New York

The analogy used in Appriou’s work is timeless. The charm of this exhibition is recognisable across cultures and is not constrained within pop culture. For all ages this show is one that will be enjoyed. It evokes a feeling of being kinder to ourselves, because all things come and go. Noticing in the end, all we do is breed new life but what we teach that new life is the result of our own.

For more information visit, www.presenhuber.com