Art Monte-Carlo / Esplanade Johan Creten

For Art Monte-Carlo, Almine Rech is delighted to present an installation by Belgian artist Johan Creten on the Esplanade of the Grimaldi Forum.

The stable and dynamic works in the MASSU series unfold like the extension of a vital energy. Approximately a decade ago, the artist turned his attention to bronze, a material that provides new grounds for sculptural experimentation. The continuity and regularity of the Massus also resonate with Brancusi’s endless columns. The two artists’ gestures are similarly radical, evoking an immemorial desire for elevation. However, the emotional weight of Creten’s columns differs from Brancusi’s primitivist vision.

Other versions and editions of Massu have been exhibited at the Middelheimmuseum in Antwerp, Belgium (2014), and at the Abbaye de Gellone monastery in Saint-Guilhemle Désert, France (2015). They are part of the permanent collection of the NOMA (The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, New Orleans Museum of Art) and the Tiffany & Co collection (in New York).