Joël Andrianomearisoa — Litanie des Horizons obscurs — Almine Rech Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: September 2 → 22, 2023

Almine Rech Paris is pleased to unveil Joël Andrianomearisoa’s first presentation at the gallery, on view from September 2 to 22, 2023.

Joël Andrianomearisoa considers with the same clarity a volume, a flavour, a feeling or a gesture. To quote his own culinary metaphor, “I am guided by broad principles, but I am not interested in the recipe”. He does not let rules or classification sway him, relying instead on his intuitions, but also on the world’s vibrations as with a seismograph. In a seemingly minimalist chromaticism, his approach focuses on revealing the poetic potential of “worthless [things and objects] that bear the dignity of the everyday”.

But far from solely valuing objects for their aura in relation to the contemporary world, Joël, who has worked for nearly twenty-five years with seasoned artisans, is passionate about know-hows and traditional techniques. From his native city, Antananarivo, to Udaipur through Aubusson, he likes to let his artist gesture bend under the influence of the artisan’s. The admiration he feels for these keepers of miraculous traditional recipes (more than for the recipe itself) is on a par with their physical commitment, their technical rigour and a certain cult of the detail — many qualities that Joël himself has adopted.

— Meriem Berrada, MACAAL Artistic Director and Curator of the exhibition Our Land Just Like a Dream