Jean-Marie Appriou

Jean-Marie Appriou imagines speculative futures and utopian worlds by constructing vast and imposing yet intricate and technically impressive sculptures from an array of materials including bronze, glass, aluminium, wax and clay. As if they are figments plucked from fantastical dreams, the works and worlds Appriou conjurs include beings loaded with symbolism. From snakes and huge horse heads to seahorses and sharks, Appriou’s cast of protagonists is mystical and mythical. He combines these beings with representations of Japanese Ama divers, beekeepers and crop gatherers, who symbolise discovery, germination and new life. By summoning future visions with creatures taken from myth and legend, Appriou combines past, future and imagined, weaving new narratives that transcend time, truth and terrain. Written by Goldsmiths CCA ...

Société is a Berlin-based gallery with an international profile—its core operations lay in Europe, the United States, and Asia. The gallery’s exhibitions, publications, and boundary-pushing initiatives have established a vital dialogue among artists working internationally. Société focuses on establishing long-term, symbiotic relationships with its gallery artists, many of whom had their first solo exhibition with the gallery. The structure of the gallery’s program and the format of its projects is an artist-led approach that responds to the ever-evolving conditions of artistic research and production—at times even pushing beyond traditional exhibition formats. Although differing in media and approach, Société’s artists address the relationship between cultural production and consumption, the circulation of information, identity, and cultural history in an era highly mediated by technology. The gallery's publishing initiative Edition Société, has worked with accomplished graphic designers on a number of acclaimed artist's books. The gallery has additionally produced 12" records with several contemporary musicians. Société has exhibited at Art Basel / Art Basel Miami Beach / Art Basel Hong Kong / Frieze London / Frieze New York / Frieze LA / ARCO Madrid / Independent New York / Independent Brussels / Art Cologne / Art Brussels / Enter Art Fair / Gallery Weekend Berlin / and Art Berlin among other locations. ...