Artist: Corentin Grossmann

Art : Concept presents Corentin Grossmann’s 5th solo exhibition.

With this fifth solo exhibition, the artist further develops the sensory component of his work, which has been present since the beginning of his career, experimenting with the infinite possibilities of contrasts, vibratory phenomena linked to color frequencies, correspondences, dissonances, interferences, and echoes. Intimately connected to the iconographic content and chosen themes, this exploration of a new dimension—reminiscent of a musician’s approach (Corentin Grossmann studied music at the conservatory until the age of 15) — results in a complex body of work that resonates in groups as one progresses through the exhibition.

Celestial bodies—stars, moons, and suns—are omnipresent, reflecting the ambiguity of suspended time, acting as a unifying element. These celestial bodies, with their distinct revolutions, speeds, and trajectories, are arranged and rearranged like Corentin Grossmann’s drawings. Anthropologist Gilbert Durand even uses the word ‘constellations’ to describe the structures of the imagination and their ability to combine infinitely. Given the diversity of themes addressed, Astres also evokes distance and the establishment of an ‘atmospheric long time’ (the dawn of time?), where the old and the new overlap. Representing the infinitely large, these celestial bodies signal a macrocosm, the cosmos in which potential microcosms are nestled.

The drawing Astres perfectly embodies these interlocking scales, playfully extending to the ultimate inversion of interior and exterior. The celestial bodies rest in a sort of cosmic shelter, smoking hookah, etc. The cat symbolizes domesticity, a somewhat unsettling familiarity due to its darkness, while the flies and other insects orbiting one of the ‘floating butt-planets’ mimic the revolutions of small planets around larger ones, providing a perfect example of the transition from microcosm to macrocosm.

As one moves through the exhibition, distinct sets and spaces with different tones and themes emerge, following an idea of ‘progression. The first set, characterized by a meditative or even spiritual atmosphere, presents a vision of the cosmos through the prism of physical and bodily sensations, which may constitute an initial stage within the exhibition. The drawings La toundra and La mer represent the quest for apparent simplicity through the stripping down and focus on the atmospheric dimension desired by the artist. The reflections of the moon or sun in the water, the vibration of the celestial body’s contour, and the saturation of sand or grass by water.

The multi-layered Man, a ceramic with primitive accents, shows us a serene face turned inward, while Le fœtus (ultrasound) raises the question of the visible and the invisible, the shown and the hidden, the full and the empty. It also stands at the intersection of several important themes of the exhibition: the aquatic origins of life (or the importance of water, its rationing, its conservation, or even its access with Le château d’eau), science (Lord of the Depth III), and finally, the future of humanity in constant transition.
Leonardo and Mona more explicitly introduce sexuality as one of the means of understanding the world and the other. Facing each other, they observe one another, their senses alert, possibly expressing sexual desire but also curiosity directed outward or inward. The title Leonardo refers to Leonardo da Vinci, an exceptional investigator, while Mona refers to the model, hence the subject of observation (as with the famous painting Mona Lisa). The symmetry of the face-off, down to their positions, suggests an idea of gender equivalence. The issue of power dynamics between the feminine and the masculine will recur throughout the exhibition, notably with the ambiguous drawing Les broyeuses, which may echo the feminist movement and its challenge to patriarchy, or The power of ginger, which plays with the codes of virility. These works depict power dynamics in the process of being redefined and, beyond these issues, the search for balance.

The final space, where larger-format drawings are concentrated, calls upon a range of figures and themes that, far from any affirmative statement, amplify harmonies and dissonances, with more ‘frontal’ works such as Les broyeuses and The power of ginger, comforting ones like the hedonistic Midnight Bath, mysterious ones like the surrealistic Paysage français that evokes the smell of Roquefort with the underlying question of national identity, and finally, if Lord of the Depth III is considered the end of the journey, a return to the question of vision introduced by Le fœtus, but with an anticipatory dimension: the submarine depicted probes the depths, searching for resources such as oil or rare metals to meet humanity’s needs, yet it also bears great similarities, in mission and aesthetics, to space exploration. This drawing demonstrates the artist’s ability to merge what we typically categorize as two distinct domains, the real and the imaginary. Corentin Grossmann drew from scientific facts (recent Chinese and American submarine missions) and was inspired by photos to evoke themes of conquest, territory, and appropriation.

The ceramic La roquette Boulava draws a belligerent axis, while on the opposite side, Le petit train à vapeur represents slowness and the past.