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Jean-Michel Othoniel

Jean-Michel Othoniel’s trip to Japan was the source of inspiration for these lithographs on Japanese paper. The name of this series, Kiku, means chrysanthemum, the imperial flower with 16 double petals.

Each lithograph is signed and numbered by the artist.

“Flowers have a very important role in my work. My obsession for the hidden meaning of flowers and their symbolism is a way to look at the world differently. ” Jean-Michel Othoniel

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Biographie

Jean-Michel Othoniel was born in 1964 in Saint-Etienne. He lives and works in Paris. His works are curated in the most important museums of contemporary art, foundations and private collections in the world.

He began his career in the 1980s, working on multiple media (drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, writing and performance) and favoring materials with poetic and sensitive properties.

He has been using glass since 1993 and it is from his time at the Villa Medicis (1996), that he began to make his works interact with landscapes and play with light. With glass, Working with the best craftsmen of Murano, glass has becoming his signature.

In 2000, a century after Hector Guimard, he created the Kiosque des Noctambules, transforming the Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre station.

In 2004, the Louvre Museum invited him to exhibit as part of the “Counterpoint” exhibition. This was the opportunity to create his first self-supporting necklaces, including Rivière Blanche, which was then acquired by the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

His works now take on an architectural dimension. He is regularly invited to create in situ installations, that dialogue with historical sites as well as with contemporary architecture.

For example, he has on several occasions created sculptures for Peter Marino and Jean Nouvel.

FORMATION

  • 1996 / Résidence à la villa Médicis, Rome, Italie
  • 1983 – 1988 / Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts, Cergy-Pontoise, France

PRIX, DISTINCTIONS ET RESIDENCES

  • 2018 / Académien dans la section Sculpture, élu par l’Académie des Beaux-Arts, Institut de France, France
  • 2011 / Résidence au Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
  • 2009 / Mission en Inde, Institut Français
  • 2006 / Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France
  • 2001 / Résidence à Miami, Etats-Unis
  • 1999 / Résidence au PICA, Portland, Etats-Unis
  • 1996 / Résidence à la villa Médicis, Rome, Italie
  • 1992 – 1993 / Lauréat de la villa Médicis Hors-les-Murs, Madrid, Espagne
  • 1990 – 1993 / Centre International de Recherche sur le Verre et les Arts plastiques (CIRVA), Marseille, France
  • 1989 / Résidence à la Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
  • 1988 / Résidence à la Villa Saint-Clair, Sète, France
  • 1986 / « Prix Tremplin », Musée du Donjon, Niort, France
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