"Piper in the Wood" is a large-scale public art installation recently acquired by the city of Alfortville, near Paris. Inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel, this 400cm x 150cm sculpture is a towering black electric pole from which black plexiglass flowers grow. Made of wood, metal, plexiglass, plastic, rubber, and bi-component epoxy paint, this piece blends the organic with the urban in a symphony of materials. Now on view at Pl. de la Gare, 94140 Alfortville.
Solo show "9:00 AM" @VITRINE Gallery/Bermondsey, Presented by @Hatch curated by Anissa Touati
9:00 AM is the 3rd chapter of Romain Sarrot’s “conceptual creativity cycle corpus”: the quater of Departure number I.
The installation questions the search for a mysterious kind of euphoria that accompanies the sensation of elevation. It puts us in this very particular state of weightlessness and suspension, as if our soul was leaving the body. For Romain Sarrot, the impossibility, for humans, to be satisfied with their finite condition is at the heart of the exhibition. He thus wants to represent the struggle between the desire for adventure and peace, between comfort and danger, the struggle between belief and experience.
The artist stages the porosity between heaven and earth, ascendent and descendent movements, the top and the bottom. The title-hour 9:00 AM brings together spiritual traditions. It evokes the “Third”, a prayer signifying both the descent and the ascent. The reference to 9:00 am is also present in popular culture, as in the song “Rocket Man” by Elton John. The song talks about an astronaut on a mission in space and whose family he misses. It is directly inspired by a science fiction short story by Ray Bardbury, “The Rocket Man”, told by Doug, a 14-year-old boy, whose father travels in space for three consecutive months, stays at home next to his grieving mother Lilly. In Bradbury's story, the rocket man is torn between his two lives as if was gravity pulling him back to the unknown adventure in the sky. Each time he returns, his wife experiences his living presence as a memory. The song highlights the feeling of fatality and loss on the part of the father. By means of a theatrical installation, 9:00 AM therefore deals with latency and with the feelings it engenders. Romain Sarrot stages the euphoria of losing ground and the exaltation of elevation by using an all-encompassing mystical white light, opacified window, fragments of roof-tops and ladders. The spectator is situated at the level of experience. He lives the experience as if he was omniscient.
One way of approaching the exhibition is to see how it explores forms of transcendence. Ascension is one of them. The spectator is moving beyond the limits of the physical world. We are entering into a spiritual realm, evoking the feeling of rising above the earth when one starts to fly. There are faces in silicon in the exhibition. They are inspired by the Mostasu: “talking statues” that served as an outlet for the frustrations and complaints of the people. The reference to this popular form of confession, coexisting with more traditional Christian confessions, introduces a more ambiguous take on transcendence and spirituality. The Mostasu is a hybrid sitting somewhere between the insect, the human and the animal. The use of silicon not only refers to human flesh but also to sexuality, as if we were looking at the repressed in religion.
Throughout the exhibition 9:00 AM, we are facing the profound dissatisfaction that lies underneath our mystical quests of euphoria. In John Steinbeck's "The Winter of Our Discontent", Ethan experiences the feeling of "Weltschmerz". This term, introduced by German romantic poet Jean Paul, refers to the pain one feels when one realizes that our spiritual desires will never be fulfilled because of the physical limitation of a finite world. One could say that it is this pain that the exhibition is trying to translate visually. It thus plunges us into melancholia when we realize that this world will never satisfy our deepest desires.
Anissa Touati
Solo show "9:00 AM" @VITRINE Gallery/Bermondsey, London. From 29.06.2023 to 10.09.2023. Presented by @Hatch
Next Solo Show Romain Sarrot
Read MoreSolo show "I miss you office" @Lokal-int from 18.03.2021 to 25.03.2021
“i miss you office” recreates the outlines of a fantasy office frozen in the collective imagination of “open space,” the hegemonic symbol the 1980s business. The passing of time on the frozen workspace speaks of the evolution and the palpable mutation of elements that finally reassert themselves on the theatre of adjoining screens, of shared calendars, of removable plywood cells, of the acoustics of a call center, henceforth delocalized. Programmed obsolescence is determined here only by nature and time upon the fragile temporality of industry. It’s an allegory of the present day, a pandemic era of deserted offices where the invisible now overflows, changing and transforming the administrative decor. The last bureaucratic phantoms having fled, ceding place to unsuspected lives eclipsed until now by King Work, imagination and sensitivity have definitively triumphed over industrial authority.
Jean du Sartel
Curated by Chri Frautschi & Nicolas Raufaste @Lokal-int
YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS @HIGH ART Gallery from 27.06.2020 to 01.08.2020
With work from :
CLÉMENTINE ADOU, MÉLISSA AIRAUDI, GIOELE AMARO, JEAN-MARIE APPRIOU, IVÁN ARGOTE,
PIERRE-OLIVIER ARNAUD, FABIENNE AUDÉOUD, HUGO AVIGO, NOÉMIE BABLET, LAËTITIA BADAUT HAUSSMANN, CARLOTTA BAILLY-BORG, HÉLÈNE BARIL, PAULINE BEAUDEMONT, NEÏL BELOUFA, WILL BENEDICT, MAXIME BICHON, KARINA BISCH, KÉVIN BLINDERMAN, OLIVIA BLOCH-LAINÉ,
CHARLIE BOISSON, BIANCA BONDI, PAUL BONNET, JULIETTE BONNEVIOT, CÉCILE BOUFFARD,
MOHAMED BOUROUISSA, ANNE BOURSE, SAMUEL BOUTRUCHE, JEANNE BRIAND, RÉMY BRIÈRE,
SIMON BROSSARD & JULIE VILLARD, CORENTIN CANESSON, LOUCIA CARLIER, ROMAIN CATTENOZ,
LORRAINE CHÂTEAUX, NICOLAS CHARDON, GAËLLE CHOISNE, MATHIS COLLINS, PAUL COLLINS,
GRICHKA COMMARET, JEAN-ALAIN CORRE, BASTIEN COSSON, LAUREN COULLARD, MORGAN COURTOIS,
JULIEN CREUZET, ORIANE DÉCHERY, RAFFAELLA DELLA OLGA, GUILLAUME DÉNERVAUD, ARNAUD DEZOTEUX, DORA DIAMANT, ANTOINE DONZEAUD, VALENTINA DOTTI, DAVID DOUARD, VAVA DUDU,
JULES DUMOULIN, MIMOSA ECHARD, RAPHAËL EMINE, ANTOINE ESPINASSEAU,
ÉLÉONORE FALSE, KIM FARKAS, THÉODORE FIVEL, GINA FOLLY, JULIEN GONICHE, CECILIA GRANARA,
DAIGA GRANTINA, MATTHIEU HABERARD, AURÉLIE HABEREY, CHARLES HASCOËT, HENDRIK HEGRAY,
ANGELIQUE HEIDLER, CHARLOTTE HOUETTE, AGATA INGARDEN, JACENT, RENAUD JEREZ, CARIN KLONOWSKI, CHARLOTTE KRIEGER, TAREK LAKHRISSI, FRANÇOIS LANCIEN-GUILBERTEAU,
DAMIEN LE DÉVÉDEC, GAELLE LEENHARDT, CHRISTOPHE LEMAITRE, PAUL LEPETIT, LUCILE LITTOT,
MATTHEW LUTZ-KINOY, BENOÎT MAIRE, CHARLIE MALGAT, ROBIN MARGERIN, HAYDÉE MARIN-LOPEZ,
HUBERT MAROT, DAN MARRE, MÉLANIE MATRANGA, CAROLINE MESQUITA, JULIEN MONNERIE,
CHARLOTTE MOTH, RASMUS MYRUP, CAMILA OLIVEIRA FAIRCLOUGH, DANIEL OTERO TORRES,
MATTHIEU PALUD, RENAUD PERRICHES, RÉJEAN PEYTAVIN, ANTOINE DE PINS, JUSTINE PONTHIEUX,
CHLOÉ QUENUM, FLORIAN & MICHAEL QUISTREBERT, THÉO ROBINE LANGLOIS, CLÉMENT RODZIELSKI,
CHRISTOPHE DE ROHAN CHABOT, BRUNO ROUSSEAUD, PEPO SALAZAR, AZZEDINE SALECK, MOUSSA SARR, ROMAIN SARROT, LOUISE SARTOR, JULIE SAS, LUCAS SEMERARO, ERWAN SENE, RAPHAËLLE SERRE, APOLONIA SOKOL, ANNA SOLAL, LOUIS SOMVEILLE, ZOÉ DE SOUMAGNAT, GRÉGORY SUGNAUX, T5, PIERRE TECTIN, KENGNÉ TÉGUIA, PHILIPP TIMISCHL, ANTOINE TRAPP, LUCILLE UHLRICH,
EMMANUEL VAN DER MEULEN, EMILE VAPPEREAU, MONA VARICHON, ANA VEGA, XAVIER VEILHAN, ADRIEN VESCOVI, MANUEL VIEILLOT, WE ARE THE PAINTERS,
For your eyes only
Curated by Robin Buchholz & Elie de Gourcuff
Caregiver Charity Sale PIASA #Protege ton soignant (03/04/20)
(Un)real life (26/02/20 - 07/03/20)
Curated by Nicolas Dewavrin
with : Gioele Amaro, Saelia Aparicio, Thibault-Théodore Babin, Robert Brambora, Amy Brener, Antoine Carbonne, Justin Fitzpatrick, Ruben Fuéntes, Cécilia Granara, Lewis Hammond, Motoko Ishibashi, Oda Jaune, Théo Mercier, Rasmus Myrup, Marguerite Piard, Lorena Prain, Paloma Proudfoot, Emily Ludwig Shaffer, Romain Sarrot, Tyler Thacker.
Thundercage show (01/11/19)
Thundergage n °11 Curated by Romain Vicari
Romain Sarrot / Claudia Tennant
Quiet Days show (01/03/19 - 15/04/19)
Curated by Bobby Dowler @le 31
"Show me your wound / Zeig mir deine wunde" from 20/09/18 to 25/08/19 @DOM Museum Vienna.
My first show in a museum ! @ Dom Museum
Curated by Klaus Speidel
"L’envers d’une autre" from 13/09/18 to 16/09/18 @ Villa Belleville 23 Rue Ramponeau, 75020 Paris
cur. IDA SIMON ET THOMAS SANDMEIER
"Reality check" from 06/09/18 to 21/10/18 @ Hotel le cinq codet, 5 rue Louis Codet 75007
Cur. studio marant & Alice Gotheil
Installation shot from Parcours St germain 2018 @Clergerie
Opening Parcours St germain this 31/05/18 until 10/06/18 @Clergerie 5 Rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006 Paris
« XP » from 25/04/18 to 11/0518 @Artmate, Espace T2 , 24 rue du Marché Popincourt 75011 Paris
With work of : Mathilde Geldhof, Matthieu Haberard, Romain Sarrot, Lise Stoufflet & Victor Vaysse
"Business Classe" 19/02/18 to 20/02/18 @Chez Mohamed Galerie Flight AF 179, Mexico to Paris, Seat 64A
With works by : Ricardo Bloch, Adam Cruces, Antoine Donzeaud, Angélique Heidler, Anouk Kruithof, Thomas Mailaender, Hubert Marot, Hamza Mediia, John Miserendino & Romain Sarrot
www.chezmohamed.fr
Fair: Material Art Fair February 8 to 11, 2018 Frontón México – Mexico City
With work from Robert Brambora, Maximilian Kirmse, Hamish Pearch & Romain Sarrot.
Tiny Paintings For Tall People from 31/12/18 to 07/01/18 "Chez Mohamed Galerie"@Jotyia Soukh de Taroudant
With works by : Ivan Argote, Mo Baala, Mohamed Bourouissa, Bobby Dowler, Angélique Heidler, Thomas Mailaender, Hubert Marot, Hamza Mediia, John Miserendino, Laurent Pernot et Romain Sarrot