LVMH Métiers d’Art exhibition postponed
Paris-based artist Raphaël Barontini’s LVMH Métiers d’Art exhibition, intended to show the fruits of his six-month residency with LVMH-owned Heng Long crocodile leather tannery in Singapore last year, has been postponed.
The exhibition, titled Soukhos, was originally scheduled to take place between March 27 and April 30 at Studio des Acacias in Paris.
Images from the venue’s website give some indication of what can be expected from the show when it does open, however.
A close-up shot of one work (pictured) reveals that the artist has sewn pieces of gold, purple and blue crocodile leather as almost regal-looking adornments to what appears to be the ‘magical’ or spacelike backdrop of a textile cape.
In an interview with Whitewall last year, Mr Barontini described the wearable artworks created during his residency as taking the form of “a kind of parade”. Elaborating on this, he said: “The parade will convene references to ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages. It will be a kind of mythical and imaginary parade with riders, knights, Black heroes and magical Afro-futuristic capes.”
Mr Barontini described his “purpose” as to “reveal the living creole and hybridised cultures which were born in territories like the Caribbean, Africa and the Americas after centuries of slavery and colonisation. I aim to create from this specific history a new creole and hybridised culture from the diasporas.”
Image: Studio des Acacias.
