Johan Creten was born in Belgium in 1963. His body of work ranges from delicate, meticulously sculpted female torsos covered in ceramic rose petals to overtly physical and monumental figures in bronze. Sculptures are imbued with aesthetic and metaphorical connotations as well as the artist’s own infatuation with the mystery of the medium and his subjects. 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. Upon a closer inspection or even a touch the viewer learns of the fragile and jagged nature of the seemingly inviting and strong pieces. An attempt to install one of his sculptures was affectionately described by the artist as "every grip, every attempt to get a hold, even every caress would leave a scar for him, a scar for her." The works of Johan Creten seem to have escaped from fables and fairy tales. They borrow from the Renaissance grottos, where the artifice of nature reigns. 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.

 

SOLO EXIBITIONS:

2011

Dhondt-Dhaenens Museum, Deurle, Belgium

Almine Rech, Brussels, Belgium

2010

"Dark Continent" Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris

2009

"Why does Strange fruit always look so sweet?" Galerie Saint Severin, Paris

2008

"Strange Fruit", Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, USA

- "La Femmina", Musée archéolique Henri-Prades, Lattes, France

- "De Gewonden", Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, Pays Bas

- "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, Holland

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, Belgique

- "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, Frace

 

GROUP EXIBITIONS:

2012

"Group Show", Galerie Perrotin, Paris

- "Group Show", Galerie Transit, Mechelen, Belgium

- "Beauté animale, de Dürer à Jeff Koons", Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 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 Petersbourg, Russie

- 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, Cameroun

- "Métissages à Rochefort : Rencontre entre un artiste et une technique textile", Rochefort

2009

"New Love" Princessehof Museum of Ceramics, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

- "Feux continus" Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, Grand Hornu, Belgique

- "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

2008

"Grandeur", Curator Anna Tilroe, Sonsbeek, Pays Bas

- "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

- "Dialogues Mediterraneens", Saint-Tropez, France

2006

"From Arp to Bourgeois", Wallace Collection, London, England

- "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, Boulder, 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, Pays-Bas

- "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

"Incrustaties", Picaron Editions, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

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