Madeleine Calafell
Originally from Côte d'Ivoire, having spent her late childhood and adolescence in Morocco, Madeleine Calafell now lives in France, where she obtained her DNSAP at the Beaux-Arts in 2020. The young artist weaves links between these three countries, approaching the African culture that is so dear to her. She often combines historical archives with her personal impressions. She began by drawing, before tackling volume, developing a predi- lection for sculpture and installation in Hélène Delprat's studio. Her current ceramics practice brings her closer to the particular social and mystical role played by earthen artists in Ivorian society, as potters maintain an intangible link between the forces of nature and their own bodies, giving them a pre-eminent ecological authority.
In the African social imagination, nature is often deified. Madeleine Calafell draws her inspiration from the landscapes of her youth, but also finds essential references in contemporary African art. She appreciates Ivorian artists such as the sculptor Jems Koko Bi, with his large figurative sculptures in rough wood, and the photographer Haron Doris Kasco, for his famous series on the "crazy people of Abidjan". His installation of hornbill beaks, in a profusion of colors, refers to Senoufos mythology, according to which this bird is a bearer of fertility and protection of the home. Madeleine was reminded of their song when she created this striking ensemble. For her, each "Bec" is a kind of metaphorical, incantatory pro- thesis in favor of an orally transmitted human memory, which could become, thanks to its "ceramic durability", a possible antidote to the programmed obsolescence of the digital tools that govern us... FB
Born in 1996. Lives and works in Saint-Ouen (Île-de-France).
In 2021, she was awarded the Joseph Epstein Prize, Fondation de France / Beaux-Arts de Paris.
TRAINING
2020 : DNSAP, ENSBA, Paris - 2015: Atelier de Sèvres, Paris.
EXHIBITIONS
-2022: Strates, duo show with Z. Moineaud, Galerie Crous, Paris - 18th Biennale d'art contemporain de Champigny (Île-de-France) -2021 : À première vue and Parcours du monde, Galerie BSL, Paris
- 2020 : LABO_DEMO#2, center Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris - 2019 : Mantener el cosmos, Casa Lü, Mexico (MX) - Matières d'art, Hôtel de ville, Bois-Plage-en-Ré (Charente-Maritime) - 2018 : Esprit es-tu là?, Galerie Design Festa, Tokyo (JP) - Un marchand un artiste, Galerie Paola Lumbroso, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine (Île-de-France)
- 10 years of ceramics at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Paris.
