Ardentis ART – “My profession is the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. While working for museums and historic monuments, I sought to bring a fresh perspective to heritage collections by creating events or exhibitions that offer a poetic view on the challenges of preserving our artistic legacy. At the heart of my research are questions of cultural transmission, the preservation, or disappearance of artworks and customs.
The works presented are part of an installation created for the 2017 European Heritage Days at the Calvet Museum in Avignon. They consist of sculptures and collages centered on the theme of seduction. Several pieces are partially or entirely covered with tropical butterfly wings.
These butterflies were chosen for their shimmering colors, but also as a nod to a 19th-century tradition where a desired woman was gifted a colorful butterfly by her romantic suitor.
In some frames, recognizable figures appear. They are characters from historical paintings, also adorned with butterflies worn like jewelry to seduce us.
As for the wooden fragments, one of their surfaces is also decorated with these iridescent wings. Resembling large talismans, they act as ritual objects of seduction. It’s up to you to rediscover the gestures linked to their ceremony—and perhaps let yourself be seduced…”
