When art meets fragrance
‘Between Heaven and Earth’
‘Entre Ciel et Terre’
with an olfactive installation by Marie Urban Le Febvre
Exhibition: 14.02.2020 – 13.03.2020
Location: Waldorf Astoria Berlin
Twigs, leaves, grasses, branches that form imaginative, poetic forms. In between, again and again the round planet Earth. In the exhibition “Between Heaven and Earth”, Michel Granger integrates his recurring motif of the earth into his series “Herbarium” created in 2015 for the first time ,
“Every time I looked at the series, I felt that it was not finished, that something was missing and that was the earth as part of nature. The earth has become an obsession for me, ”says the French artist.
In his works, Michel Granger combines political engagement with his artistic position. His "herbarium" is the protest against worldwide deforestation.
Because what is left on the canvas, after a road roller drives over dead and torn foliage, is only an imprint of nature, only a memory.…
Planet earth has always been at the centre of Granger's imagery: the endangered earth, the earth to be defended and protected, the earth as a source of hope. The round ball that embodies the planet is therefore characteristic of his painting. As he explains: "Some represent the earth in the form of landscapes, I represent it as a planet".
His oeuvre shows a variety of techniques and visual language that is figurative, abstract, poetic and at the same time unsettling and frightening. He uses the most unusual means.
At the beginning of the 90s, he began to drive tanks across canvasses - in memory of the bloody massacre in 1989 on Tiananmen Square.
Michel Granger was born 1946 in Roanne near Lyon, France.
After studying fine arts, he initially worked as an illustrator for TV networks and major international newspapers, including "Der Spiegel" and the "New York Times".
For the musician, composer and sound magician of the electro pop Jean-Michel Jarre, Michel has illustrated several album covers since the 1970s, including the famous skull of the world success "Oxygène".
As dedicated artist, he designed stamps for the UN, UNESCO and Reporters Without Borders. His paintings are exhibited internationally in museums and galleries.
Text by Sabine Glaubitz
‘In the name of earth’
‘Au nom de la terre’
Exhibition: 01.12.16 – 04.04.2017
Location: Urban Scents & Art Gallery - Berlin - Germany
A skull stands out from the earth: An image in which Michel Granger deals with the threat of the earth in a drastic and direct way. The presentation was sold millions of times over 40 years ago as cover of the legendary study album "Oxygen" by Jean-Michel Jarre.
The earth and the human beings have since been at the centre of the entire work of the French painter. Granger's work is artistically implemented in various forms, including stamps for the international organizations UNO and UNESCO.
The Tiananmen massacre in 1989 was an event that had a special impact on his work. Granger began painting with combat tanks as a sign of protest. The steel giants no longer served war, but art. His first abstract and large-format “armour” canvasses, so-called "Empreintes", date from 1991. The result: image structures of disturbing ease.
In the year of 2015 Michel Granger starts with "Herbarium". An art project in which the artist works with logs, twigs and a road roller. The cycle represents a further artistic upheaval, because here the painter places the subject of deforestation at the centre of his work. The paintings edited by Granger in the studio represent figurative, partially japonizing compositions.
Michel Granger was born on October 13, 1946, in Roanne, in the southeast of France. After studying at the Beaux-Arts in Lyon, he went to Paris in 1969. In addition to his paintings, he regularly designed sketches and illustrations for both French and foreign newspapers and magazines, including “Der Spiegel”. His works have been shown in individual exhibitions in galleries and museums in France, Germany, Poland and Japan.
Text by Sabine Glaubitz
Photographer Doreen Geyer
AU NOM DE LA TERRE
Michel Granger
“Au Nom de la Terre” was conceived as an exhibition showcasing Michel Granger’s new body of work “Herbarium” with blue and green plant prints. But while preparing, French electronic musician Jean Michel Jarre asked Granger for permission to use the artist’s record cover drawing of the album “Oxygène” in 1976 for its 40-year anniversary as a 3D-print in 2016.
“Au Nom de la Terre” brings Michel Granger’s two works together: Intense vetiver and earthy wood scents reflect the herbarium while mineral elements mimic the ozone blue of “Oxygène”.
