FUSION by Philippe Baudelocque
Monograph and exhibition series - Copenhagen, Kyoto, Paris
As one journeys through the works of Philippe Baudelocque, one will notice to what tenacious detail the artist reinterprets and alters our conception of the universe. To a vision of the living that transcends matter and thought, body and soul; he portrays a cosmos that embraces all facets of being within a single chalk line.
In Baudelocque’s universe of cosmic creatures, man is no longer the all-powerful master of nature. He is cut from the same celestial cloth as other species – animal, vegetable, and mineral – the very fabric of the universe.
Following the release of our FUSION book edition, in highly specialized off-set print and limited edition of 250 copies, we took it upon ourselves, in the great spirit of cross-cultural exchange and experience, to test the universal narrative embedded in Philippe’s work with a series of international exhibitions. We basically wanted to experience how, what could be considered as a strictly Parisian project with 25 unique animal chalk drawings intended to be clandestinely emblazoned on various facades of the central Marais area, would reverberated in very different cultural contexts across the globe.
After launching the book and the complimentary solo exhibition at the Frama Studio in Copenhagen, we were invited by the municipal of Kyoto to host a sequel exhibition in the sacred and still very active active Taizo-in Zen Buddhist Temple Myoshinji in Kyoto became an intense seance of spiritual enlightenment for both the artist, the publisher and everyone involved.
On the third leg of the exhibition series the project returned to the extravagant and highly glamorized birth place of Paris with a collaborative exhibition at the Hermès flagship store on rue de Sèvres in Saint German.
All in all, three very distinct cultural contexts for the experience of art - each completely altering the impression of the various works.