Jean-François Fourtou -Work

2024 «Imaginary words»
Espace Monte-Cristo, Paris.
«Le Voyage à Nantes»,Nantes.
Hermès windows, Taïwan & NY.
Le Hangar Y, Meudon.
Le Domaine Pommery, Reims.
"Ramakech", Marrakech.

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2024

Many half-human, half-plant characters were born, as if they had stepped out of a time machine.
They are installed in Paris at Espace Monte-Cristo for a year; in Taiwan, in the windows of Maison Hermès; in Nantes, notably on Place Royale square, where a giant with a palm head stands, a self-portrait of the artist as a child.
Other Hybridus, this time inspired by the marine world, appear in New York in the window of Maison Hermès on Madison Avenue.
And while bees travel to Meudon at Hangar Y, and Nanitos and Maxitos to Reims at Domaine de Vranken-Pommery, “Ramakech”, the artist's sculpture park, is preparing to open its doors to the public in Marrakech.

2023-22 “The Hybridus Family” RX Gallery, Paris.
" Range ta chambre ! »
Saint Sauveur station, Lille.
“ Grandeur Nature ”, Château de Fontainebleau. “The Cosmic Serpent”, Utopia 14, Lille.

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2023-22

In 2022, Nanitos, Minitos and the Maxitos with its giant house, are presented in Lille as part of the Utopia festival, while other small characters fly to Hong Kong to populate the Hermès windows.
In 2023, plant characters first presented at Château de Fontainebleau, are grouped with their cousins to form “The Family of Hybridus” shown at RX gallery in Paris.
Some Minitos settled at Domaine Vranken-Pommery in Reims and some Nanitos visited Le Hameau des Baux in Provence.
At the same time, Jean-François recreated his first childhood bedroom in a monumental way at Gare Saint-Sauveur in Lille.

2021 « Lying house » for the
Extatiques Paris La Défense.
« Traversée » RX Gallery, Paris.
« Blooming » Le Domaine Pommery, Reims.

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2021

For the exhibition « Les Extatiques » on the Esplanade of Paris La Défense, JFF laid a small suburban house on its side like a giant toy which fell among the skyscrapers (presentation).

Also in Paris, he installed a colony of snails in the new boutique of perfumer Marc-Antoine Barrois at Galerie Véro-Dodat and took part in the exhibition « Traversée » at RX Gallery.

His giant butterflies fledged in Marrakech for a private commission and at Domaine Vranken-Pommery for the exhibition « Blooming ».

2020-19 « How Nanitos are born »
RX Gallery, Paris.
« Treasure hunt » window display Hermès, Dubai .
« Enchanted garden » window display Maison Hermès, Shangai.

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2020-19

For the windows of Maison Hermès, JFF creates an « enchanted garden » in Shanghai
and a « treasure hunt » in Dubai.
In France, he exhibits «How Nanitos are born» at RX Gallery in Paris (Virtual visit - Introduction) and participates to the shows « Bêtes de scène » at Villa Datris Foundation and « Figures de l'animal » at Contemporary Art Centre Meymac.

2018-17 "Beach castle", Knokke,
"The bees of Brussels",
"Nanitos", "Ant-nest", Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com)

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2018-17

In Belgium, JFF created two very different monumental installations, a house converted into a giant bee hive (in Tournay-Solvay Park, Brussels) and a 12-meter high « Beach Castle » made up of 11 wooden beach cabins (permanent installation for the town of Knokke)

In Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com), he turned a ruin made of soil into a giant ant-hill. He also created a tribe of gardeners, called « Nanitos », small creatures with pumpkin heads that are born out of a vegetable garden

2016 « Beehive house », giants bees, ants and cobwebs, Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com).

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2016

In Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com), JFF continues to explore different ways of inhabiting space with the “Beehive House”, with its labyrinths of honeycomb cells, bees, giant jars of honey, oversized ants clinging to the facades, and monumental cobwebs hanging from palm trees.

2015-13« Merci Louisette » MAMO, Marseille; galerie Mitterrand, Paris, Chamarande.
Hermès shop window, Tokyo.

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2015-13

“Merci Louisette”, a monumental installation, was presented in different configurations in three spectacular locations: the MAMO Marseille
(on the roof of Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse), the Mitterrand gallery in Paris, and the chateau at Chamarande. Giant bees weave the knitting wool of Louisette, the artist’s aunt, into a large cocoon enclosing furniture and other objects she left to him.

Meanwhile, JFF conceived and realized the Hermès shop windows in Tokyo and a giraffe ten meters high on the deck of a large cruise ship.

2012-11 «Fantastic» Lille.
Hermès Shop Window, Paris. Aeroplastics, Brussels.

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2012-2011

In 2011 and 2012, JFF showed his work in Brussels (Galerie Aeroplastics), Ajaccio (Musée Fesch), and Normandy (Jardin du Hauvel), fulfilled private commissions (including a giant giraffe), and was also introduced to a much wider public. In three months, 80,000 people entered his Flemish House Fallen from the Sky in the heart of the old town of Lille, students in Paris saw a part of their school transformed by the artist, passersby and clients of the Hermès boutique on the rue de Sèvres in Paris (6^th arrondissement) saw a changing shop window invaded throughout the year by sculptures of animals occupying the furniture of a bourgeois apartment.

2010 «Tombée du Ciel» JGM, Paris. International Biennale, Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com).

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2010

Along with an installation of giant furniture presented at the Palais Bahia (Biennale de Marrakech - www.darelsadaka.com), and at the Palazzo Riso (Musée d'art contemporain de Palerme), the “house fallen from the sky”, just completed in Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com) as an homage to the grandfather of the artist, was presented at the JGM Galerie in Paris in an exposition of sculptures and photographs.

2009-08 «Monumental giraffe and horses», Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com).

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2009-08

In 2008 and 2009, JFF was focused on several monumental sculptures, including a horse and a giraffe. During this time he also participated in several institutional exhibitions in France for the Frac Languedoc Roussillon-Galerie Iconoscope, at the Centre photographique d'Ile de France, the Centre d'art contemporain de Meymac and also in Brazil, at the Musée d'art contemporain de Sao Paulo and the Musée Nimeyer in Brasilia.

2007 «Mes Maisons», JGM, Paris. «Bêtes et Hommes», la Villette, Paris.

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2007

While the animal sculptures continued to be shown, including in the important “Bêtes et Hommes” exhibiton at La Vilette in Paris, 2007 was particularly notable for the presentation of “Mes Maisons” in Berlin and at the JGM Galerie in Paris. The show was comprised of photographs and sculptures inspired by the artist’s three houses: his Paris pied-à-terre (invaded by sculptures of snails), his playful studio in Madrid, and above all in Marrakech (www.darelsadaka.com), where the artist’s childhood room at his great-grandmother’s house was constructed on three different scales.

2006-04 «Nuits blanches», Rome et Paris. Iconoscope, Montpellier. GP&N Vallois; Pièce Unique, Paris.

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2006-04

In three personal exhibitions JFF presented several facets of his work: a sculpture of a giant giraffe in the window of the Galerie Pièce Unique in Paris, oversized furniture installed at the Galerie GP&N Vallois in Paris, and a cabin overturned by animals at the Galerie Iconoscope in Montpellier.

These years were also notable for other spectacular creations aimed at a wide public in Brussels, Paris and Rome for their “White Nights” festivals, and again in Paris, a public commission for a school.

2003 Aéroplastics, Brussels. «Géant», La Verrière - Hermes, Brussels. «Artists Backstage» Art 34 Basel.

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2003

2003 was marked by three very different personal exhibitions: JFF installed his giant’s cabin at the Verrière Hermès in Brussels, and his animals and giant’s house at the Galerie Aeroplastics. He also installed a big cabin at the Basel Art Fair.

2002-00 Artists Space, New York. GP&N Vallois, Paris. Biennale de Cetinje, Montenegro.

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2002-00

Apart from two personal exhibitions in Paris and Madrid, JFF installed cabins at the Biennale de Cetinje in Montenegro and at the Galerie Bunker Szutki in Krakow, exposed his animal sculptures at the Galerie Aeroplastics in Bruxelles, for the “Voilà la France” exhibition in Turin, at the Domaine de Chamarande in the Ile de France, and at the Galerie Artist Space in New York, after a concept by Louise Bourgeois.

1999-91GP & N Vallois, Paris. Angel Romero; Marlborough, Madrid. Casa de Velazquez, Madrid & Paris.

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1999-91

In the years after leaving the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, JFF worked in Madrid on his animal sculptures.

He produced his first public commissions for a high school in Val-d'Oise, for a museum in Santander, and for the headquarters of Axa in Paris.

During this time he regularly showed his work, most notably at the Galerie GP&N Vallois in Paris and at the Galerie Angel Romero in Madrid, but also at the Musée Bourdelle in Paris, the ENSBA (Ecole Nationale Supèrieure des Beaux Arts) in Paris, the Villa-Lemot in the Loire Atlantique, and at the Casa Velazquez in Madrid.