Artists of Bordeaux, or the art of infiltrating public space
Making the city one’s canvas isn’t exactly a new idea. The plethora of different types of urban art are often lazily thrown together under the umbrella of “street art”. In reality, the forms of art made in the public space constitute a multitude of expressions and images which take inspiration from a place’s artistic, poetic, architectonic and/or historic potential. Let us show you with our selection of art that you can find in and around Bordeaux.
On the move with the Tinbox art gallery
It’s difficult to miss this little exhibition box – created by Nadia Russell in 2007 –, mainly thanks to its red coating. Perched atop its four wheels, this mobile gallery is found in unexpected or popular places around Bordeaux, giving artists a unique way of exhibiting their work. It sat in the Jardin Botanique until 7th March, displaying an exhibition named ‘Stars in Springtime’ (Des Astres au Printemps) by Hélene Bleys. Then, from 17th March to 11th May, it moved to Bordeaux’s Place Saint-Projet, showing Ema Eygreteau’s ‘Gossipium’: a hybrid textile piece that was expansive and organic, with echoes of an out of control virus.
- Price: Free
- To find out where you can see the Tinbox at the moment and which artist is on display, visit the sur leur page Facebook
Cultural riposte in Bordeaux with Rouge
Having studied at Bordeaux’s École des Beaux-Arts, Jessica Hartley, alias Rouge, oscillates between different worlds: street art, contemporary muralism and the pictorial approach of the great masters from the history of art, from whom she takes inspiration for her portraits and sketches that show an ambivalence for the daily grind. Equally at ease in her atelier and in the public domain, her works can be seen in multiple places: the exhibition gallery at the art centre and on the various different surfaces (exposed concrete, old stone, etc.) of public spaces in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Dakar, Garlin near Pau, Paris and Bordeaux.
As part of the call for proposals for the L’Art se Mur-Mur project , launched in 2017, a new piece of work by Rouge can be found in Pessac, made for the 20th edition of the Vibrations Urbaines festival. She has made an impressive wall fresco called ‘Riposte’. On the facade of a building, a woman is preparing to throw a projectile. Playing with the iconography of revolt, the message is made clear through the choice of projectile: a book, calling for a popular cultural uprising.
- Site: 3 Rue Bossuet, Pessac, 33600
- www.rouge-art.net
Heritage transformation with Muriel Rodolosse
With its troubadour style, its stone balcony and its towers, Château du Bois Fleuri looks like it belongs in a fairytale. This Gothic Revival construction was built in 1880 and sits at the heart of Lormont, in a park that is home to oak trees, cedars, sequoias, pines and palm trees. The town of Lormont has owned this magical place for 50 years, and has decided to permanently close the chateau, entrusting its facade to Muriel Rodoloss,, who won the call for proposals with her ‘Mirabilia’.
In her Bordeaux-based atelier, the artist has created sixty-three paintings, adapted to the doors, windows and all of the openings of the edifice. Thus, Château du Bois Fleuri has been transformed into a gigantic picture rail – a sort of fascinating pictorial bestiary – made using Muriel Rodolosse’s signature material: Plexiglas. On reflective surfaces that are capable of generating direct interferences with their environment (reflections of the trees and the sun’s varied intensity), she uses protean iconography, interlaced with clues drawn from different temporalities (the past, present and future) and genres (fantasy, history, science-fiction, cabinet of curiosities, etc.).
- Mirabilia, Parc du Bois fleuri, Entrance: 29 Route de Bordeaux, Lormont, 33310
- Free access in accordance with park opening times.
- Information: 05 57 77 07 30
“Lines of Union” with Stéphane Carricondo
From the emblematic lion that reigns over Place Stalingrad to the four-metre statue of a pair of jogging bottoms and moccasins located close to the Pin Galant (in Mérignac), there are more than a dozen such works. They were created as part of Bordeaux Métropole’s “Art in the City” initiative* and are dotted along the city’s tramlines. In Villenave d’Ornon, a working group of residents, shopkeepers and members of Le Conseil de quartier Nord and Le Conseil des Sages was created with the mission of decorating a telephone exchange.
It was Stéphane Carricondo’s proposal that was selected from among the different competing propositions. This artist of many roles – he is also the artistic director of La Fondation Desperados for L’Art Urbain and the co-founder of the collective 9e Concept – worked his magic on the facade of the building, located on Place Aristide Briand. His wall fresco contrasts with the original edifice’s very rigid architectural lines, using a combination of totemic patterns, oblong stripes and chromatic interplay.
* This artistic public order plan was launched in 2002 with the support of the Ministry of Culture to accompany the construction of the tramway. It has been extended to the large construction sites found in the conurbation with the artistic public order ‘Garonne’.
- Traits d'Union fresco, inaugurated in September 2019.
- Site: Place Aristide Briand, Villenave d’Ornon, 33140
- Tram Station: Villenave-Centre Pont de la Maye - Tram line C
Spaghetti and giant rabbit with Jofo
If you’ve walked around Bordeaux, you’ve definitely come across one of Jofo’s “Totos”. The little round guy, outlined in black, first appeared 30 years ago, and he sprung into existence when the artist found a stack of childhood drawings at his parents house in Dax. “Finding them was a veritable goldmine! I decided to polish up these doodles that I’d drawn when I was five years old. I called this character Toto”. It’s a generic term that fuses infantile imagery with a “pop” aesthetic that is light-hearted and easily identifiable. Over three decades, Toto has been the centrepiece of many canvases, but also some facades in the public domain, like at the Bordeaux children’s hospital or on Le Petit Train Touristique, Bordeaux’s tourist train.
Close to Rives d’Arcins, in Villenave d’Ornon, it isn’t Toto that you’ll find on the Part des Anges site, but a figure that is just as fun: a giant rabbit that is bright pink with two protruding white teeth. This monumental sculpture was made out of resin and sits in the middle of a park surrounded by buildings designed by the architects ART’EMIS and BUPA. The facades of the housing are enveloped by “spaghetti”, also concocted by Jofo: a sort of white metallic lace which forms a kind of lattice that filters light without obscuring it. This project was completed in 2016 and won the grand Pyramides d’Argent prize, awarded by la Fédération des promoteurs immobiliers Aquitaine Poitou-Charentes.
- LA PART DES ANGES
- Avenue Mirieu de labarre, Villenave d'Ornon, 33140
