Johan Creten has been a fervent defender of ceramics and bronze in contemporary art, and remains a major pioneer in this domain.
Mixing popular imagery, sensuality, and beauty, his allegorical sculptures – hybrids of figuration and abstraction – depict a world filled with poetry, lyricism and mystery.
Between 2019 and 2022, Creten created 17 monumental ceramic animals for his “Bestiarium” series that, like a sort of Noah’s Ark, brings together a sheep, dog, seahorse, snail, rabbit, fly, spider, grasshopper, beaver, pelican, wild boar, hedgehog… all entirely modelled in enamelled ceramic with dripping glazes.
For Le Voyage à Nantes, the artist enlarged one of the original works in this series: La Mouche morte (“The Dead Fly”), which was recently acquired as part of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris’ permanent collection.
Johan Creten was born in 1963 and lives and now works in Montreuil, France. He is represented by Galerie Perrotin (Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo), Galerie Almine Rech (Paris, Brussels, London, New York) and Galerie Transit (Mechelen).
