Here, literality and minimalistic aspirations are present in appearance only. Indeed these works are more reminiscent of that type of formalist painting in which the artist would mentally immerse spectators in vast colour fields as a means of pushing them into a wholly fictitious space. (…) What we are talking about, then, is a kind of distracting trick, manipulation or falsification within the work itself, in its execution, its crafting and its potential. But at first sight, the work offers no clue as to its meaning, and this space sheds no light on the structuring of the artist's discourse.

Octavio Zaya. The Space in Between. 2018

Joël Andrianomearisoa’s fake monochromes (fake because they have several tones) are often three-dimensional and do not permit an analytical approach — their proximity to traditional practices, the way they imply timeless, collective, and often ritual procedures (such as how to wrap the body), convokes an anthropology or, at least, the creation of an anthropological procedure dedicated to the complexity of the urban.

Delfim Sardo. Baroque declination. 2017.

The work of Joël Andrianomearisoa is built upon this fluid and negotiated condition; in the interior of the density of his fragile material compositions, in the intensity of the black, within the baroque folds and pleats that produce the different widths of the space he proposes. We remember Perec, as he mused about life, “But do we really know where it shatters, where it curves, and where it assembles itself?”

Delfim Sardo. The Fold. 2018

Andrianomearisoa’s work allows us to understand that if we embrace the complexity and beauty of our gleaming shadow selves, if we have the courage to develop a relationship with all that seems unlovable within us, we may learn to relish the conversations that result from acceptance.

Neelika Jayawardane, 2016.

Andrianomearisoa is fully aware that abstraction is a force which operates in both the economic and social spheres. For him, abstraction also creates potentially poetic images and can be used to address his own personal experience. 

Octavio Zaya. The Space in Between. 2018

The space of these works appears as a metaphor for the real space, which is physical but also cultural, and why not, also emotional.

Diana B. Wechsler. Embroideries. 2018

About the artist

Joël Andrianomearisoa, born in 1977 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. He lives and works between Paris and Antananarivo.

He took his first steps as an artist in the mid-90s, when he was barely 18 years old. From the outset his work took form through performances that would earn him the cover of Revue Noire Madagascar in 1998.

He explores many disciplines, from fashion to design, video to photography, scenography to architecture, installations to visual arts. This is likely where he draws his polyphonic work from, invading every part of his viewers’ sensitive space. As a part of this first pioneering wave of contemporary Malagasy artists he also actively participates in the cultural and artistic development of his country (Fashion festival Manja in 1998, the Sanga dance festival in 2003, Photoana festival in 2005, personal project 30 and Presque-Songes in 2007 and 2011, Parlez-moi in 2016 ...).

He studied at an art school in Madagascar first and then rubbed shoulders with craftsmen, which put him in touch with many renowned international designers. His training took a decisive turn at the age of 20 in France when he began studying at the École Spéciale d’Architecture, in Paris. In 2005, he graduated as an architect, presenting a fully graphic and textile project, far from the classic architectural approach that his research director Odile Decq had recommended. 

Throughout his career, his work has been shown in five continents, including many prestigious international cultural institutions such as the Maxxi in Roma, the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the Smithsonian in Washington, the Centre Pompidou in Paris among many others. 

In 2016, he received the Arco Madrid Audemars Piguet Prize and he is currently a finalist of the Loewe Craft Prize 2020.