Multi-faceted artist Benjamin Poulanges offers a distinctive vision. His experience is far-ranging, his mind open to all things related to art, fashion, design and luxury. In 2016, seeking to express his innermost sensitivity, Poulanges reinvents himself by trying a new form. He studies ceramics at the bicentenary Rometti factory near Rome. This ancient material, steeped in tradition, allows him to create oversized classical forms to which he brings instability and movement. They serve as a background for a pictorial expression that is both controlled and free. The successive firings that are required slow down the work, creating a thoughtful and instinctive dialogue. The generous shapes and their apparent imbalance reveal, through their colours, ever-changing works. Blacks and blues, mattes and satins, respond and collide.
For over 150 years, Pinton has been perpetuating the savoir-faire of the Royal Manufacture of Aubusson, which has made France famous for the manufacture of top-of-the-range rugs and tapestries. In the 20th century, textile art emancipated itself from painting, becoming a medium in its own right, exploring new techniques. Strongly attached to the quality of their work, the Pinton workshops pursue a tradition of close collaboration with contemporary artists, in perpetual exchange with the different trades that interact from the first sketch to the fall of the loom. Galerie Negropontes wished to confront these high standards with those of Perrin & Perrin. The couple was immediately drawn into this new project, examining, proposing and questioning themselves in order to work with a hitherto unknown material, turning it into a new mode of expression.