Simone Pheulpin at work, photo courtesy of Simone Pheulpin
The material I use for my artworks is very simple: raw cotton bands that I still find from the Vosges – my native region in eastern France. This material, I make unrecognizable, modifying its structure and nature by forming a dense and regular stacking of thin folds that retain their shape thanks to pins. My sculptures become organic material, vegetable or animal, and I could not imagine that they now have often travelled around the world!
In the last three years, my sculptures have been exhibited and traveled at an incredible pace, in amazing places full of history such Venetian palaces, mansions in Paris and Brussels, Swiss chalets, or European palaces (such as the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, the Hotel de la Paix in Geneva, the Fairmont Monte Carlo, the Conrad Brussels) and also in unique museums as Villa Empain in Brussels and the Museum of Contemporary Tapestry in Angers, in addition to the United States and Asia, specifically, South Korea and Japan. These worldwide exhibitions have allowed my artworks to join Public and Private Collections for which I am very proud!
Falaise 4 detail by SImone Pheulpin, photo by Tom Grotta
I am also very proud of my intergenerational cooperation with a young and talented artist, Jeremy Gobé, a graduate of Decorative Arts in Paris and winner of the 2011 Bullukian Award. Launched in September 2011, the Bullukian Award assists young artists with contemporary creation. The Award, which includes a scholarship, a workshop opportunity and the production of a catalog, was a resounding success, with more than 160 applications. The jury, chaired by Véronique Ellena, rewarded Jeremy Gobé for his exhibition project monuments hands. The Bullukian Foundation will host an exhibition of the artist in November and December 2012, and Jeremy Gobé will honor me, Simone Pheulpin, in this exhibition!
From the Vosges in France, around the world, my travelling while artworks makes me happy!
Simone Pheulpin
September 2012