Caroline Rennequin

Caroline Rennequin was born in 1970. She graduated from the Ecole Estienne in 1988, from Duperré in 1990 and from the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in 1993. Today, she works as a set designer in the luxury and fashion sectors in Paris. She first worked for Isabel Marant and Annick Goutal and has been artistic director of Jérôme Dreyfuss since 2007. She creates all the window displays for the designer’s boutiques, including sculptures, paintings and furniture.

Flowers, Caroline Rennequin’s emblematic series, are gouaches on Indian papers, a medium charged with history for the artist. This colorful series, created without preliminary sketching, is based on a principle of harmony and balance that she calls “variation”. The artist compares the forms to snowflakes, recognizable and unique. Aesthetically, her Flowers synthesize various influences, from the 70s to Comics, creating “pneumatic” forms that resemble conceptual abstractions more than floral representations.

This series is linked to notions of ecology. The artist wishes to revalue the mirror principle that exists between humans and nature, expressing her desire for equality among all links in the chain of life. It is necessary to show respect and humility towards our environment. Inspired by the Italian philosopher and botanist Emanuele Coccia, she invites us to see plants as mirrors of our existence: once the seed is planted, it is placed under constraint and must adapt to its environment.

“Each of us is but a transformation and condensation of the sky, its matter, its life”

An exhibition dedicated to her work was held at Jean Fournier in 2022. This is the gallery where Mitchell or Viala exhibited. A link of continuity is thus created between the artist and her predecessors, placing her within an abstract vein.