Born in 1963 in Sint-Truiden, Belgium
Lives and works in Paris, France

Johan CRETEN

Frontrunner in the revival of ceramics in contemporary art, the Paris based artist Johan Creten (born in 1963) has been working on the move for almost forty years, from Mexico to Rome, from Miami to The Hague. 
With his innovative use of ceramics, he started working with clay in the late 1980s, when the medium was still seen as taboo in the contemporary art world.  Famous for his allegorical sculptures in ceramic and bronze, Johan Creten continues since the 90's his representations of a world full of poetry, lyricism and mysteries. They underline the importance of beauty in his work, while reaffirming his humanist consciousness and the social and political resonance of his practice. In his creative process, Johan Creten mentions “Slow art” and the need for a return to introspection and exploration of the world with its individual and societal torments.  

solo shows

2023
- Le cœur qui déborde, Abbaye de Beaulieu-en-Rouergue, CMN, Ginals, France
- Installation Artistique "Johan Creten - La Grande Colonne", Musée de la Garenne Lemot, Gétigné, France
- Le Voyage à Nantes, Nantes, France

2022
- Pilevneli Gallery, Bodrum / Muğla, Turkey
- Pilane Heritage Museum, Klövedal, Sweden
- Bestiarium, Galerie Almine Rech, Brussels, Belgium
- Johan Creten : Bestarium, La Piscine - Musée d'art et d'industrie André Dilligent de Roubaix, Roubaix, France

2021
- C'est dans ma nature, Galerie Transit, Mechelen, Belgium

2020
- I Peccati, Villa Medicis, Rome, Italy
- Entracte, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France

2019
- True Love, Leila Heller Gallery, Dubaï, United Arab Emirates
- Figur Natur Skulptur, Pilane, Sweden
- Fiac Projects, Parvis du Petit Palais, Paris 
- Rédemption, Église Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, Valloire, France

2018
- Pliny’s Sorrow, Château d’Arenberg, Leuven, Belgium
- Sunrise/Sunset, Perrotin, Paris, France
- Johan Creten, Beelden Aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Hague, The Netherlands
- Alfred Paintings, Galerie Perrotin, NYC, USA
- Naked Roots / Naakte Wortels, Museum Beldeen Aan Zee Scheveningen, Den Hague, The Netherlands

2017
- Between Day and Dream, Pilevneli Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
- 8 Gods, Galerie Almine Rech, Brussels, Belgium

2016
- Terre Fertile / Terre Fébrile, Chateau de Pommard, France
- La Traversée, Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain, Sète, France

2015
- The Nature of Clay, The Monaco Project for the Arts 2015 Pavillon Bosio - Ecole Supérieure d'Arts Plastiques, Monaco
- God is a Stranger, Galerie Perrotin, New York, USA
- In Situ 2015, Abbaye de Gellone, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, France

2014
- The Storm, Musée Middelheim, Sculpture Park, Anvers, Belgium
- Gulden Snede, Galerie Transit, Mechelen, Belgium
- Fireworks, Perrotin Gallery, Hong Kong

2013
- The Vivisector, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
- JC, Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

2012
- Fire-Works, Dhondt-Dhaenens Museum, Deurle, Belgium

2011
- Johan Creten. Pliny's Sorrow, Almine Rech, Brussels, Belgium
- Les ruches de Saint Bernard, Abbaye du Thoronet, Thoronet, France

2010
- Dark Continent Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France

2009
- Why does Strange fruit always look so sweet? Galerie Saint Severin, Paris, France

2008
- Strange Fruit, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, USA
- Johan Creten : La Femmina, Musée archéolique Henri-Prades, Lattes, France
- De Gewonden, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
- Ex Natura, Musée de la Chasse, (in coproduction with the Manufacture National of Sèvres), Paris, France

2007
- Tour des Forces, Royal Museum of Mariemont, Morlanwelz, Belgium
- Beelden/Sculptures, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden, The Netherlands

2006
- Narcissus Saved, Transit Galerie, Mechelen, Belgium

2004
- Miami Dreams, De Garage, Mechelen, Belgium

2003
- JC solo, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA
- Odore di Femmina, J.Johnson Gallery, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
- JC Sculptures, Elaine Baker, Boca raton, Florida, USA

2001
- 3 Torso’s, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, USA

2000
- JC Sculptures, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ and Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
- Casa del Obispado, Arte Actueal Mexicano, Monterrey, Mexico

1998
- L’homme parfait, MAMCO, Genève, Switzerland
- Odore di Femmina, Robert Miller gallery, New York, USA

1997
- La Misère Dorée, Musée des Arts décoratif, Paris, France

1996
- Wereldbeelden, W 139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1995
- Amerika Amerika, Galerie Arndt&Partner, Berlin, Germany

1994
- La Mort d’Adonis, FRAC Auvergne, Château de Chareil-Cintrat, France
- Les Amants, Galerie Transit, Leuven, Belgium
- JC Solo, Galerie de la Villa, Villa Arson, Nice, France
- En Quarantaine, Brise-lames, Sète, France

1992
- Le Cheval de Troie, Galerie Transit, Leuven, Belgium

1990
- L’œil de l’antiquaire, Transit Galerie, Belgium

1988
- Kunstkamer, Galerie Meyer, Paris, France

group shows

2023
- Toucher Terre, Espace Monte-Cristo, Paris, France 
- Constellations, Musée d’art moderne de Céret, Céret, France 
- Crossing Ways, Musée d’Art Religieux Moderne, Basilique du Sacré Coeur, Brussels, Belgium 
- Handle with Care, Princessehof Ceramics Museum (Keramiekmuseum Princesshof), Leewarden, Netherlands
- De Eerste parade, Knokke-Heist, Belgium

2022
- Formes Vivantes, Manufacture de Sèvres, Sèvres, France (upcoming)
- GOLD, Les ors d'Yves Saint Laurent, curated by Elsa Janssenn Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, France 
- (Un)commun values, National Bank of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
- Regarde-moi, Perrotin Paris, France
- Les fleurs du mâle, Musée International d’Art Naif Anatole Jakovsky, Nice, France 
- Contre-Nature, Musée MO.CO. Panacée, Montpellier, France 
- Toucher Terre, l'Art céramique", Fondation Villa Datris, Paris, France 
- Portrait of a lady, Fondation Boghossian - Villa Empain, Bruxelles, Belgium
- Head in the clouds, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan 

2021
- Rhapsody in Blue, Villa Les Zéphyrs, Middelkerke, Belgium
- Voyages immobiles – Le grand tour / Diptyque, , curated by Jerome Sans, Poste du Louvre, Paris, France
- Les Extatiques, Parvis de la Défense, Courbevoie, France
- Die Sonne Die Sunde, J. Hopenstand, Geneva, Switzerland
- Group show, Pilevneli gallery, Mandarin Oriental, Bodrum, Turkey
- La Bohème, Alfonso Artiaco Gallery, Napoli, Italy 
- Ceramics NOW!, Galerie Italienne, Paris, France 
- De Eerste Parade, Knokke-Heist, Belgium 
- Les Estivales, Sceaux, France 

2020
- ZW-ART, Galerie Transit, Mechelen, Belgium 
- Artifices Instables, Histoires de Céramiques, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco - Villa Sauber, Monaco
- Wonderland, Galerie Perrotin, Shanghai, China

2019
- Kunst in Puurs (K.I.P) - Puurs, Belgium
- The Gulf Between. About Black, White and everything in between - De Warande, Belgium
- Anima / Animals - Fondation Villa Datris, L'isle-sur-la-sorgue, France
- The Vivisector, Pilevneli Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
- Formes Vivantes, Musée Adrien Dubouché, Limoges, France
- Presque Rien, Centre d'Initiatives Artistiques du Mirail, Toulouse, France
- FIAC, Paris, France
- Bêtes de Scène, Fondation Villa Datris, L'isle sur la Sorgues, France
- La Fleur de l'Art, 22Visconti, Paris, France
- Djur Natur Skulptur, Pilane Heritage Museum, Kloevedal, Sweden
- True Love, Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 
- Des Artistes et des Abeilles, La Topographie de l'Art, Paris, France

2018 
- Des Artistes & des Abeilles - La Topographie de l'Art, Paris, France
- La Tempête - Centre Régional d'Art contemporain Occitanie (CRAC), Sète, France 
- L'Or ! - Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (Mucem), Marseille, France
- Beelden in Leiden (7th Edition) - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden - The Netherlands
- By Fire Ceramic works - Almine Rech Gallery, New York City, USA
- FIAC, Paris, France
- Masterpiece London, Galerie Sismann, Paris, France
- Art Basel Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland
- Frieze New York, New York, USA
- TEFAF Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Sunrise / Sunset, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France

2017
- Regard sur une collection, Musée National Eugène Delacroix, Paris, France
- Miroir Parlant, avec Lucien Petit, Hervé Rousseau et 6 céramiques japonaises traditionnelles, Centre céramique contemporaine, La Borne, France
- Ecce Homo, Geukens & De Vils, Antwerp, Belgium
- De nature en sculpture, Villa Datris, L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue, France
- Point quartz - Flower of Kent, Villa Arson, Nice, France
- Jardins, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Between Earth and Heaven II, PAK, Bruges, Belgium
- The Beauty and the Beast, Château d'Ursel, Hingene, Belgium

2016
-  Mir ist das Leben lieber. Sammlung Reydan Weiss, Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Weserburg, Germany
- CERAMIX. Art and ceramics from Rodin to Schütte, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France

2015
- Obsession, Maison particulière, Brussels, Belgium
- Mademoiselle Privé, by Chanel, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
- CERAMIX. Art and ceramics from Rodin to Schütte,Bonnafantenmuseum, Maastricht, The Netherlands 
- Glasstress Gotika, 56th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
- Berengo Foundation, Venice, Italy
- Vormidable. Contemporary Flemish Sculpture, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Den Haag, The Netherlands
- Paysage rêvés - fin de siècle, Musée de Cambrai, Cambrai, France  
- Amours. tours & détours, Galerie nationale de la tapisserie, Beauvais, France

2014
- De Zee (The Sea), Mu.Zee, Ostend, Belgium
- Beating around the Bush Episode # 2, Bonnafantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Cet obscur objet de désirs : Autour de l'Origine du monde, Musée Gustave Courbet, Ornans, France
- Le Baiser Musée Maillol, Paris, France

2013
-Happy Birthday, 25 ans de la Galerie Perrotin, Tripostal, Lille, France
- FIAC hors les murs, Almine Rech Gallery, Jardin des Plantes, Paris, France
- Remake, Musée royal de Mariemont, Morlanweiz, Belgium
- Révélations. Le salon des métiers d'art et de la création, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Terra Arte - Projektes, Zigelei Hundisburg, Hundisburg, Germany
- Sculptures 9 - Animal, Musée Despiau-Wlérick, Mont de Marsan, France
- The 7th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, Icheon CeraMIX Creative Center - Gyeonggi, South Korea
- Mon île de Montmajour, Abbaye de Montmajour, Arles, France
- Back to Earth - From Picasso to Ai Weiwei. Rediscovering ceramics in Art, Herbert Gerisch Foundation, Neumünster, Germany
- La Révolte et l'Ennui, la collection du FRAC Auvergne FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
-Château hanté, FRAC Auvergne, Domaine Royal de Randan, Randan, France
-Tresses 13. dés-tresse et déclacet treize, Maison des tresses et lacets, La Terrasse-sur-Dorlay, France

2012
- Des Fleurs en Hiver, Musée National Eugène Delacroix, Paris, France
- La Belle & la Bête, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France
- Group Show, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
- Group Show, Galerie Transit, Mechelen, Belgium
- Beauté animale, de Dürer à Jeff Koons, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Festival International d'Art Contemporain Ap'Art, Les Alpilles, France
- Musée Imaginaire du Moyen Age, Château de Tarascon, France

2011-2012
- Bêtes off, Conciergerie, Paris, France
- Tour de France/Florida - Artist from France in FLorida's private collections, Institut Français and the French Consulate, The Frost Museum, Miami, USA

2011
- Pearls of North , On a pas perdu le nord, Palais d'Iéna, Paris, France
- Louvre à Bethune, Béthune 2011 - Capitale régionale de la culture, Béthune, France.
- Intérieurs, L'art de vivre avec l'art, Artcurial, Hôtel Dassault, Paris, France
- Scène Belge, Hippocrene Foundation, Paris, France
- Bestes, bestiaux et bestioles (Genèse), Château de Oiron, France
- Big Brother, l'artiste face aux tyrans, Palais des Arts et du festival de Dinard, France

2010
- Beyond Limits, a selling exhibition of modern and contemporary sculpture, Sotheby's, Chatsworth Castle, Derbyshire, UK
- Circuit Céramique : la scène française contemporaine, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, France
- Liefde voor het boek, Hasselt, Belgium
- Between the Sacred and the Profane, CIAP, Hasselt, Belgium
- Sèvres, Porcelaines Contemporaines, Musée de l'Ermitage, Palais Menchikov, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Château de Rambouillet, France
- Who is afraid of the Museum? Museum Hof van Busleyden Mechelen, Belgium
- Olbricht Collection, Essen & Berlin, Germany
- New Monuments Middelheimmuseum, Anvers, Belgium
- Coup de ville en chambre d'amis Tentoonstellingsproject , Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
- Weizijwijzei, Landart, Flandres, Belgium
- Manifestation d’art contemporain, Centre culturel français, Yaoundé, Cameroon
- Métissages à Rochefort : Rencontre entre un artiste et une technique textile, Rochefort, France

2009
- New Love Princessehof Museum of Ceramics, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
- Feux continus Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, Grand Hornu, Belgium
- La Conquista della Modernità, 1920-2008, Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy
- Flower Power, Villa Giulia, Verbania, Italy
- Silencio, Johan Creten - Paolo Grassino - Sarkis, Eglise Saint Jean, Le Monastier organized by Fonds Régional D'Art Contemporain Auvergne, France

2008
- Grandeur, Curator Anna Tilroe, Sonsbeek, The Netherlands
- Sand: Memory, Meaning and Metaphor, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, USA
- La dégelée Rabelais, la Dive Bouteille, Trich, Château de Jau, Fonds régional d'art contemporain, Languedoc-Rousillon, France

2007
- Intrusions, Petit Palais, Paris, France
- Dialogues Mediterraneens, Saint-Tropez, France

2006
- From Arp to Bourgeois, Wallace Collection, London, UK
- Céramique Fiction, Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen, France

2005
- Contrepoint 2, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

2004
- Because the earth is 1/3 dirt, C.U. Art Museum, Bolder, Colorado, USA
- Métissages, MACO, Oaxaca, Mexico

2003
- Fragile, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Reims, France

2002
- The Erotic Life of Clay: Sex Pots, Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco state University, San Francisco, USA
- Beyond the Male Pale, J.M. Kohler Arts Center, Wisconsin, USA

2001
- Water on paper, CIAP, Hasselt, Belgium

2000
- Confrontational Clay, the artist as Social Critic, traveling show, USA
- Gardens of Pleasure, John Michael Kolher Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA

1999
- Garten der Flora, Museum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany

1997
- 5th International Istanbul Biennal, Yerebatan Cistern, Istanbul, Turkey
- Sables brulants, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Netherlands
- Retour d’Italie, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, France
- L’exposition informelle, Frac Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France

1996
- Masculine Measures, John Michael Kolher Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA

1995
- Fémininmasculin, Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

1991
- Incrustaties, Picaron Editions, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

public collections

- Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France
- Bonnafantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida, USA
- Kohler Foundation, Wisconsin, USA
- FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, France
- FRAC Pays de la Loire, France
- FRAC Auverge, France
- Fonds Municipal d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
- Provincial Museum voor Moderne kunst, Oostende, Belgium
- Collection du Ministère de la communauté Flamande de Belgique
- Collection de la province du Brabant Flamand de Belgique
- Museum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany
- Olbricht Collection, Germany
- Taylor New Orleans Museum of Art, USA

bibliography


2021
- LEMOINE Colin | Drawing a blank | Solfatara

2020
- LEMOINE Colin | Miroir parlant | Johan Creten Studio

2018
- Bergman Joost | Naked roots | Lannoo

2017
- La traversee / The Crossing | Johan Creten Studio

2015
- LEMOINE Colin | Alfred Paintings | Perrotin

2013
- Johan Creten - Perrotin monograph | Perrotin

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"Creten’s work speaks to the storm within us all, as individuals and as a society, and deals with his usual themes: nature, the female form, power, politics and spirituality."  Gay Gassmann, T Magazine - New York Times.

« His sculptures inhabit a space between worlds, an intercept of surreal and expressionist, erotic dream and brutal physicality. » Claudia Barbieri, The New York Times

Johan Creten (Born 1963, Belgium) is a Flemish sculptor based in Paris. He has been trained as a painter but soon turned to ceramics and monumental bronze for his work. 

Called « The Clay Gipsy » and working wherever he has the opportunity, from Miami to Mexico, from Den Haag to New York, Johan Creten is considered a frontrunner in the revival of clay with Lucio Fontana and Thomas Schütte.

He has exhibited, among many other places, at the Louvre Museum, at the Musée National Eugène Delacroix in Paris, the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, the Istanbul Biennale, the Mamco in Geneva and the Middelheimmuseum in Antwerp. 

In 1996 he was awarded the Prix de Rome and could stay as resident in the Villa Medici.

Between 2004 and 2007 he was visiting artist at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. 

In 2009 he was nominated for the Flemish Culture Prize.

In 2013, he held the Theodore Randall Chair at the Alfred University, New York State. 

In 2014, he presented a majoro solo exhibition of monumental bronzes in the culpture park of the Middelheimmuseum in Antwerp.

In 2015, an entire room was dedicated to his pioneering work in the exhibition "CERAMIX" at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht and La Maison Rouge in Pari, in 2016.

In 2016, a solo exhibition "La Traversée" at the Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain in Sète, South of France, gathered no less than 60 emblematic and never-before-seen ceramic sculptures and monumental bronzes. 

In 2020, a major solo exhibtion was dedicated to the artist at the French Academy in Rome - Villa Medici. 

by Ludovic RECCHIA

Press release Johan Creten, Miami, 2008

Born in Sint Truiden, Johan Creten, studied in Gand, Paris and Amsterdam. Adding to his statelessness, he spent two years at the Villa Medici in Rome in 1996, then three years in 2000 as an artist in residence at the Bass Museum of Art (Miami Beach). From June 2004 to January 2008, he was an artist in residence at the legendary Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, the French national porcelain factory. There, he went on to develop a series of sandstone and porcelain sculptures entitled "Vagues ("waves") or Odore di Femmina". Reviving forgotten techniques, such as the use of wood kilns, Creten thrived and his concepts blossomed into unexpected shapes.

There are very few sculptors who have grasped, with so much relevance, the plasticity of Ceramics. An essential paradox, formal and narrative all at once, permeates Creten's work: a very powerful baroque treatment applied to classical shapes. In his early work, crude, popular imagery coexisted with an astonishingly beautiful and refined sensuality. In art as in man, Eros and Thanatos mingle in complex ways.

Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers' paintings of mussel shells led Johan Creten towards his "Odore di Femmina" series. Not only are "mould" and "mussel" homophonous in French, but "moule" also means "cunt", and when Broodthaers referenced Belgium's favorite shellfish, he also evoked the female sex organ, the origin of the world. The "Odore di Femmina" are either reliefs, either classical female busts with a pastillage of rose petals, fruits or seaweed instead of mussels. All kinds of metonymies come subtly into play, so as to evoke the woman through her perfume, the perfume through the flower and, lastly, the sex through the thousands of vulvar excrescences enshrouding her body. These female sandstone busts are reminiscent of antique Venus Anadyomene ("Venus rising from the sea"), with measurements corresponding to Hellenistic models.

These "Odore di Femmina" take us back to the bacchantes, and to Ophelia as portrayed by 19th century symbolist painting. Marine life, the sea as mother, are central to Creten's "Vagues" series, with their impressive, truly monumental tentacle-like convolutions reminiscent of sea monsters and leviathans. "La Très grande vague ou Une sirène pour Palissy" (fittingly acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in Ostend) or "The Pearl" (with the subhead "The Lovers - The Octopi") are free of all ambiguities. Out of their impossible movements emerges a monstrous and gorgeous kind of love, rendered as a mix of attraction and repulsion.

Creten makes up new mythologies out of scraps of stories, bits of History and art history, and personal experiences and travels, freely blending the personal and the intimate with the universal.

Ludovic RECCHIA - Research Assistant with the Musée royal de Mariemont (Belgium)

by Alfredo Triff

Johan Creten "Strange Fruit", 2008

“An inconsolable memory, a memory of shadows and stone.”—Marguerite Duras

In one of his essays pondering Nietzsche’s idea of history, critic Gene Ray asks: “What face to show this wounded world of lost selves?” One possible answer to this question is to aesthetically wriggle away from chaos to form, which Belgian artist Johan Creten successfully pulls off with Strange Fruit, his recent show of sculptures at Perrotin Gallery in Wynwood.

Creten’s diverse and colorful ceramics mix the aesthetic of end-of-Nineteenth-Century group Les XX (only more abstract, devoid of superfluous metaphysics), with Arthur C. Clark’s science fiction and a postmodern cynical humor out of H. R. Geiger. To top it off, there’s movement, drama and passion.

The pieces’ texture vary from shiny to vascular, to bristly, to tentacular; their form from human to animal to basaltic. There is something ancient and geological a beyond-history quality of lithification, whereby sediments compact under pressure, expelling liquid, gradually become solid rock (which is why Creten’s work has been displayed as counterpoint to archeological findings in museums, such as the Paris’s Louvre). The Belgian artist exploits certain themes which have made a comeback into post-postmodern sensibility, such as the idea of late-Nineteenth Century animism, which is present in the sculptor’s more abstract pieces, like the reddish and flowery “Mr. Rabbit” (or “Little Head”), resembling ciliated fossils or calcareous algae imbued with life.

There is the octopus, which survives in Cretan and Greek poetry and iconography into the Classical period -and makes a brief appearance in the Art Nouveau jewelry. The decadent sensibility was fascinated with the cephalopod’s intelligence, its suicidal mating behavior and the bizarre constitution of its body.

Creten’s Les Poulpes (2005) communicates a malevolently sensual movement: Two octopuses mate, their big bulbous gelatinous heads one on top of the other, as they form a white inchoate mass of tentacles, peppered with blood spots as if coming out of the stone’s crevices (the “sang de boeuf” used in the glazing process).

A Gothic and then Romantic theme transformed by fin-de-siècle Symbolist literature is that of the implicit human-like quality of the monster. Creten’s Un Grand nez triste, a twisted sculpture of a male figure with a thick protruding nose, his drooping eyes exuding grief, is akin to Verlaine’s Beaux demons, or the kind of corporeal deformity defended by Oscar Wilde in his Picture of Dorian Gray: “There’s animalism in the soul, and the body had its moments of spirituality. The senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade.”

Creten implodes figuration and abstraction: “La Disgraziata” (1998), an imposing 6.3 feet statue of a headless female trunk, shrouded by a pink colored fibrous lattice (as if a swelling vascular epidermis) and Miami Grace (2001), covered with a reddish coral dress, stand both detached, as petrified testimonies of a nuclear conflagration. They are not depictions of women per se, but conceptual revisions of the classical canon -as if layers of history over history.

The show’s interrogatory posture reminds me of the image of the charred wristwatch in Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima mon amour. It is as if, coming back to Ray’s essay, one would witness “the end of history as human memory and human time dispersing into geological memory.” I welcome that all of this is presented not as the final synthesis of a great unfolding, but more like a tectonic unassuming process. In the end, Creten is not making a comment about history or antihistory, but more like the poetic flight of an invisible bird we no longer need to watch.

Alfredo TRIFF

2023

Daniel ARSHAM, Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, JR, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Xavier VEILHAN

May 27, 2023 - July 29, 2023

paris

2BIS AVENUE MATIGNON 75008 PARIS

Salon Perrotin Matignon

Jean-Marie APPRIOU, Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Jens FÄNGE, Laurent GRASSO, Hans HARTUNG, Thilo HEINZMANN, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, JR, Klara KRISTALOVA, LEE Bae, Gabriel DE LA MORA, Takashi MURAKAMI, Tavares STRACHAN, Pieter VERMEERSCH

January 10, 2023 - April 5, 2023

paris

2BIS AVENUE MATIGNON 75008 PARIS

Salon Perrotin Matignon

2022

Daniel ARSHAM, Sophie CALLE, Jiang CHENG, Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Jens FÄNGE, CHEN Fei, GELITIN, Laurent GRASSO, Charles HASCOËT, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, JR, Izumi KATO, CHEN Ke, Klara KRISTALOVA, Trevon LATIN, ROMEO MIVEKANNIN, Danielle ORCHARD, zéh PALITO, Christiane POOLEY, Claude RUTAULT, SONG Kun, Kathia ST. HILAIRE, Xavier VEILHAN

June 9, 2022 - July 30, 2022

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS
10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS

Regarde-moi

Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Jens FÄNGE, Bernard FRIZE, Laurent GRASSO, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Izumi KATO, Klara KRISTALOVA, ob, Otani Workshop, Paola PIVI, Gabriel RICO, Aya TAKANO

February 9, 2022 - March 19, 2022

tokyo

Piramide Building, 1F, 6-6-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku

Head in the Clouds

2021

Iván ARGOTE, Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Bernard FRIZE, ELMGREEN & DRAGSET, Hans HARTUNG, Laurent GRASSO, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Thilo HEINZMANN, Alain JACQUET, Takashi MURAKAMI, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Claude RUTAULT, Xavier VEILHAN, Yuji UEDA

June 3, 2021 - July 31, 2021

paris

2BIS AVENUE MATIGNON 75008 PARIS

Salon Perrotin Matignon

Iván ARGOTE, Daniel ARSHAM, Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Jens FÄNGE, Bernard FRIZE, Laurent GRASSO, John HENDERSON, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Hans HARTUNG, Bharti KHER, Klara KRISTALOVA, Takashi MURAKAMI, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Yuji UEDA

September 24, 2023

paris

2BIS AVENUE MATIGNON 75008 PARIS

Salon Perrotin Matignon

2020

Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Bernard FRIZE, Laurent GRASSO, Thilo HEINZMANN, KIM Chong-Hak, LEE Bae, Georges MATHIEU, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Park Seo-Bo, Maria TANIGUCHI, Xavier VEILHAN

November 24, 2020 - February 6, 2021

hong kong

807, 8/F, K11 ATELIER Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road,Tsim Sha Tsui

Floating World

Johan CRETEN

October 17, 2020 - January 30, 2021

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

Entracte

JR, Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Wim DELVOYE, Bernard FRIZE, Laurent GRASSO, Hans HARTUNG, John HENDERSON, Leslie HEWITT, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Bharti KHER, Klara KRISTALOVA, Georges MATHIEU, Paola PIVI, Gabriel RICO, Xavier VEILHAN, XU ZHEN®

April 30, 2020 - June 18, 2020

Shanghai

3/F, 27 Hu Qiu Road, Huangpu District

Wonderland

2018

Johan CRETEN

September 8, 2018 - October 21, 2018

new york

130 Orchard Street

Alfred Paintings

Johan CRETEN

January 10, 2018 - March 10, 2018

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

Sunrise / Sunset

2015

Johan CRETEN

September 9, 2015 - October 31, 2015

new york

909 Madison Avenue New York

God is a Stranger

2014

Johan CRETEN

October 2, 2014 - November 15, 2014

hong kong

50 CONNAUGHT ROAD CENTRAL, 17TH FLOOR - HONG KONG

Fireworks

Chiho AOSHIMA, Daniel ARSHAM, Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Tracey EMIN, Daniel FIRMAN, GELITIN, Laurent GRASSO, JR, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, KAWS, Bharti KHER, Klara KRISTALOVA, MR., Guy LIMONE, Ryan MCGINLEY, Takashi MURAKAMI, Prune NOURRY, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Terry RICHARDSON, Germaine RICHIER, Aya TAKANO, Xavier VEILHAN, Andy WARHOL, Marina ABRAMOVIC, Valerie BELIN, Guerrilla Girls, Alex KATZ, Annette MESSAGER, Yoko ONO, Rob PRUITT, Cindy SHERMAN, Taryn SIMON, Mickalene THOMAS, Agnès THURNAUER, Tom WESSELMANN

May 27, 2014 - June 25, 2014

paris

60 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

G I R L

curated by Pharrell Williams

2013

Johan CRETEN

January 12, 2013 - February 23, 2013

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

The Vivisector

2012

Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Wim DELVOYE, ELMGREEN & DRAGSET, Lionel ESTÈVE, Bernard FRIZE, Bharti KHER, KOLKOZ, Klara KRISTALOVA, Guy LIMONE, Takashi MURAKAMI, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Claude RUTAULT, Michael SAILSTORFER, Xavier VEILHAN

March 10, 2012 - April 21, 2012

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

2010

Johan CRETEN

January 9, 2010 - March 13, 2010

paris

10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS

Dark Continent

2009

Chiho AOSHIMA, Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Bernard FRIZE, GELITIN, Bharti KHER, KOLKOZ, Klara KRISTALOVA, Martin OPPEL, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Aya TAKANO, Tatiana TROUVÉ, Piotr UKLANSKI, Chris VASELL, Xavier VEILHAN, Peter ZIMMERMANN

March 14, 2009 - May 16, 2009

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

2008

Johan CRETEN

March 8, 2008 - April 5, 2008

miami

Strange Fruit
"I PECCATI" AT THE VILLA MEDICI

"I PECCATI" AT THE VILLA MEDICI

Johan CRETEN

"ENTRACTE" AT PERROTIN PARIS

"ENTRACTE" AT PERROTIN PARIS

Johan CRETEN

JOHAN CRETEN "DE VLEERMUIS" AT PETIT PALAIS

JOHAN CRETEN "DE VLEERMUIS" AT PETIT PALAIS

Johan Creten

Johan CRETEN "DJUR NATUR SKULPTUR"

Johan CRETEN "DJUR NATUR SKULPTUR"

Johan CRETEN

Johan Creten "Alfred Paintings", Perrotin New York

Johan Creten "Alfred Paintings", Perrotin New York

Johan CRETEN

Johan Creten "Sunrise / Sunset", Perrotin Paris

Johan Creten "Sunrise / Sunset", Perrotin Paris

Johan CRETEN

Johan Creten, "La Traversée" at CRAC, Sète with curator Jess de Gruyter

Johan Creten, "La Traversée" at CRAC, Sète with ...

Johan CRETEN

« God is a stranger » GALERIE PERROTIN NEW YORK - Sept 09 - Oct 31, 2015

« God is a stranger » GALERIE PERROTIN NEW YORK ...

Johan CRETEN

Johan Creten, "The Storm",Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium, May 24 - September 21, 2014

Johan Creten, "The Storm",Middelheim Museum,...

Johan CRETEN

Interview of Johan Creten by Astrid de Cazalet for Blouin Artinfo during "The Storm" at the Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium, May 24 - September 21, 2014

Interview of Johan Creten by Astrid de Cazalet...

Johan CRETEN

Johan Creten, teaser of the exhibition "Fireworks" at Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong Oct 02 - Nov 15, 2014

Johan Creten, teaser of the exhibition...

Johan CRETEN

Johan Creten "The Vivisector", Perrotin Paris

Johan Creten "The Vivisector", Perrotin Paris

Johan CRETEN

Johan Creten, Group Show, Perrotin Paris

Johan Creten, Group Show, Perrotin Paris

Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Wim DELVOYE, ELMGREEN & DRAGSET, Lionel ESTÈVE, Bernard FRIZE, Bharti KHER, KOLKOZ, Klara KRISTALOVA, Guy LIMONE, Takashi MURAKAMI, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Claude RUTAULT, Michael SAILSTORFER, Xavier VEILHAN

"Dark Continent" - Johan Creten, documentary by Philippe JOPPIN

"Dark Continent" - Johan Creten, documentary by...

Johan CRETEN

Exhibition view ar Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem,Netherlands

Exhibition view ar Sonsbeek Park,...

Johan CRETEN

podcasts