Dear Shaded Viewers,
Imagine stepping into a realm where the mythical origins of civilization blend seamlessly with the refined aesthetics of a luxury hotel suite. This is the essence of ‘The Earthly Paradise,’ an immersive experience that transports visitors through a narrative woven with both fantasy and reality. Water, the central theme, serves as a symbol of life’s beginnings, purification, and rebirth.
This ambitious installation is the brainchild of artistic director David Herman, in collaboration with artists Audrey Guimard, Lia Rochas-Pàris, and Clara de Gobert. Their multidisciplinary expertise spans both art and decorative arts, resulting in a space that feels both sacred and innovative.
The exhibition features a harmonious blend of sculptural works, wall collages, unique objects, and monumental furniture. This artistic tapestry is enriched by the contemplative music of Benoît Bottex and curated antiques from Arles gallery owner Anne Carpentier.
‘The Earthly Paradise’ not only reinforces the metaxu artists’ space as a key player in the Mediterranean art scene but also offers a dynamic series of events leading up to its conclusion on August 10. This holistic and engaging experience invites visitors to reflect on the convergence of myth, art, and modernity.
ARTISTS
Their sensitivities to the intersections of historical archaism and poetic avant-garde, of raw minerality and feminine sensuality, of mythological iconography and esoteric wierdness, allow this exhibition to fully express the timelessness of its atmosphere on the borders of an ideal past, a chaotic present and a cosmic future.
AUDREY GUIMARD
Artist-sculptor and scenographer
@audrey.guimard
A graduate in art history and archaeology, a great admirer of nature and a fervent supporter of awareness in our ways of creating and experiencing art, she understands space in all its dimensions, from the monumental to the ‘object. Working with stone allows him to create committed collective projects, highlighting a natural material and ancestral know-how for projects combining art, crafts, design, artistic installations, architecture, land art. The ecological dimension is fundamental in her projects, a commitment that she respects as much as possible, particularly through the work of quarry waste as well as materials collected in nature, allowing her to explore new poetic writings of matter. Winner of the Academy of know how of the Hermès Foundation, the Verrecchia Fund, awarded at the Design Parade Toulon in 2019, her work is presented at PAD, Collectible Fair, AD Matières d’Art, Paris Design Week, and in several galleries. Exhibition contribution: Audrey Guimard offers sculptures evoking ancient caryatids, fragments of statues where nature reclaims its rights, luminous artifacts as well as the remains of a nymphaeum.
Exhibition contribution: Audrey Guimard offers sculptures evoking ancient caryatids, fragments of statues where nature reclaims its rights, luminous artifacts as well as the remains of a nymphaeum.
LIA ROCHAS-PÀRIS
Multidisciplinary artist
@liarochasparis – liarochasparis.com
Lia Rochas-Pàris composes through different mediums – collage, photographs, photomontages, videos, poetry, photo novels, editions, installations – in an archivist spirit, in search of a personal archeology. In parallel with her practice, she develops activities as an artistic director and curator (Comme Un Roman-Photo and Zeitlos Zimmer…) and collaborates with houses (Gucci, John Lobb, Dammann Frères…). Her works are part of private collections and have been acquired by hotels such as Les sources de Caudalie, the Hôtel de Fiac, the Hôtel La Dame des Arts, the Bourgogne Montana. His work has been the subject of several personal and group exhibitions in Paris, Arles, Amsterdam, Osaka and New York.
Exhibition contribution: Apart from her sculptures in plaster, stone and silver leaf (mask, statue), Lia Rochas-Pàris presents her collages in wall versions. She notably features CONSTELLATION, a modular panoramic decor published by Bien Fait. This publishing house founded by Cécile Figuette develops on demand, based on artisanal and eco-conscious know-how, narrative wallpapers signed by painters or illustrators. “This edition gave Lia the opportunity to enlarge her patterns cut out from old books and magazines, and to offer everyone the opportunity to immerse themselves in her composition. » @bienfaitparis – bien-fait-paris.com
CLARA DE GOBERT
Set designer, multidisciplinary artist
@claradescilly – claradegobert.com
Whether for the staging of an artist (Jay Jay Johanson & Jeanne Added) or a fashion house (from Paradise Garden campaign for Jean-Paul Gaultier), or for its own visual and musical productions (performances at the Feÿ Arts Festival, Pete the Monkey, Karma collective), Clara de Gobert creates phantasmagorical worlds, with a cinematic atmosphere and a strong artisanal patina, inhabited by strange creatures in the tradition of her character Nomicon.
Exhibition contribution: Clara de Gobert creates a monumental in-situ bed-sculpture, completed by a set of diverted pieces of furniture. She is also involved in the general scenography: decorations and floral/plant arrangements.
CURATION/ARTISTIC DIRECTION
DAVID HERMAN
Creative director & curator of multidisciplinary narrative experiences
@herman_david
Drawing on his cross-disciplinary experience in the worlds of fashion, decorative arts, gastronomy and then music and cinema through the production of cultural events (Fashion Film Festival ASVOFF at the Centre Pompidou, Expressive Itinérance Design) or through creative and editorial direction of media (Standard magazine, Say Who) or agencies (Artdicted, l’Ecurie), David Herman has built up a multi-disciplinary family of talents (among his collaborations: Mathias Kiss, Alice Lewis, Jonathan Fitoussi, Nicolas Godin, Manish Arora, Michel Legrand, Marie Chemorin, Muse florist…). The result is the staging of “total” experiences, both physically and visually, with a strong cinematic approach. Collaborative fusions are based on meaningful, in-situ narratives, revealing the creative identity of the talents involved and the spirit of the places invested. The subjects most often cover the notion of “art de vivre” in its ability to reconcile historical heritages with a forward-looking vision. In parallel with his activities, he teaches image direction at the Institut Français de la Mode, for which he regularly organizes workshops with such names as Charles Negre, Boris Camaca, Mathieu Meyer, HTTB, Hot Hot Hot, Alei Journal, Uchronia, Dover Street Market or Byredo, Maison Margiela, Valentino Beauté.
Later,
Diane
