Julien Creuzet

Last updated

Julien Creuzet
Born1986
Paris, France
OccupationArtist

Julien Creuzet (born 1986) is a French-Caribbean conceptual artist and professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Creuzet's practice encompasses sculpture, poetry, music, video, and animation and often engages with topics of creolization, migration decolonization, and the complexities of French colonial history. [1] [2] In 2021, Creuzet was nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp, and in 2022, he received Art Basel's Donnés Prize. [3] In 2023, Creuzet was co-commisioned by Performa and the Hartwig Art Foundation. In 2024, Creuzet represented France at the 60th Venice Biennale, becoming the first black man, and one of the youngest artists, to do so. [4] [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Creuzet was born in the eastern Parisian suburb Le Blanc Mesnil. [6] He and his family moved to Martinique [4] when he was 4 years old. While living in Martinique, Creuzet was exposed to Caribbean culture and artists by his father, an assistant nurse who loved art and cultural exhibitions. In 2006, at the age of 20, Creuzet returned to France to pursue studies at French art schools.

Work

Creuzet's work is known for retracing African ancestry and commenting on French colonial history using digital avatars and the culture of the Caribbean. His work is biographical, personal, and political often incorporating performative aspects and music/song alongside his sculptural works thereby creating a complex montage in his exhibitions. He's known to incorporate poetry and story throughout his work and is influenced by iterary figures such as Aimé Césaire and Édouard Glissant.Creuzet also cites Wifredo Lam et Miles Davis as influencing his work. [7]

In a notable solo show at the Parisian gallery High Art, Creuzet incorporated a historic newspaper article published in 1976 in Le Monde about a story describing a Parisian dinner at which white attendees were served by Black "boys and girls," the event being described as "the only voodoo temple in Europe" [6] as a point of reference for exoticism prevalent throughout France's colonial history.

In the same Paris show, mixed media works of large blacks heads crafted out of raffia bags were accompanied by Creole singing and beating rhythms. Additional sculptural / mixed media works included cloud-like circles crafted from breads and thread, and suspended sculptural forms filled with rice, beans, and other grains.

Creuzet is currently a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris holding the title "Chef d'atelier." He lives and works in Montreuil, a commune east of Paris. [8] [6]

Artistic process

Creuzet, during an interview with Artnet, mentions that some of his sculptures take several years to evolve, and often start as experiments and ideas that need time to come to their full realization. He considers the works fully formed and complete when the "sculpture escapes [him]" and he no longer feels like the sole author of the object. [6]

Notable exhibitions include

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References

  1. ↑ "Julien Creuzet, alla Biennale di Venezia porta i Caraibi: «Incarno una storia e anche un gioco geopolitico»". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). April 14, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Burlington Contemporary - Articles". contemporary.burlington.org.uk. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  3. ↑ Harris, Gareth (December 9, 2022). "And they're off—France, Estonia and Lithuania first to announce artists for 2024 Venice Biennale". The Art Newspaper . Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Lauter, Devorah (June 8, 2023). "Artist Julien Creuzet Wants Us to Question What We Know and Free Ourselves". ARTnews.com. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
  5. ↑ Farago, Jason; Marshall, Alex; Halperin, Julia; Steinhauer, Jillian; Small, Zachary; Kelbaugh, Casey; Mayda, Matteo de (April 19, 2024). "8 Hits of the Venice Biennale". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Sansom, Anna (March 8, 2023). "How French-Caribbean Artist Julien Creuzet Uses Creole Hymns and Digital Avatars to Retrace African Ancestry". Artnet News. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Biennale de Venise : pourquoi un lancement en Martinique ?". Le Point (in French). February 7, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Creuzet". Beaux-arts de Paris (in French). Retrieved April 25, 2024.

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