Tabouret 1
21 x 41 x 27 cm
Victor Giannotta, known as Sepa (b. 1994, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), is an artist whose journey began in West Africa. His passion for wood and fascination for distant places were nurtured early on and further developed as he explored the forests of the Jura Mountains in Haut-Doubs, France, specifically in Métabief.
Sepa lives and works today in Saint-Martin de Lansuscle, in the Cévennes, Lozère, after extensive travels around the world. It is in this place, shaped by the landscape, that he chose to set up his tools. His work is centered around respect for the material, as he personally harvests fallen wood, ensuring it is transportable and integrating its energy into his creations. His process involves working solely by hand, using pruning and cutting tools, without any electric machinery.
A turning point in his practice was a residency in Japan, in collaboration with the Tokyo University of the Arts, which transformed his perception of everyday objects. He began to see utility as sculpture, where bowls and stools animate like small sacred fires, standing at the boundary between utility and art.
Sepa’s art is a fusion of tradition and skill, valuing imperfection and the authenticity of materials. His respect for wood as a universal language is reflected in his creations, where he channels the energy of each piece through his hands, embracing the material’s natural form.
Currently shown at:
LUXEMBOURG ART WEEK 2024
Luxembourg Art Week is a major event in the European art scene, taking place this year from November 22 to 24, 2024. The fair provides a dynamic platform for galleries, artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts from around the world, allowing the discovery of contemporary works in an international setting. Featuring a wide diversity of participating galleries and artists, the event stands out for the quality and variety of the artworks presented, whether by emerging or established artists.
Grège Gallery will participate with a group show highlighting a selection of artists with distinct styles: Chidy Wayne, Mattia Listowski, Laura Pasquino, Juliette Lemontey, Moritz Berg, Sepa, Giorgio Petracci, and Roan Van Oort. Each artist presents a unique vision of contemporary art, combining innovation and reflection on universal themes such as memory, identity, and the nature of existence.
Chidy Wayne will present a series of works where his experience as an illustrator transforms into a personal and pictorial language. His drawings, influenced by avant-garde movements and ancestral cultural elements, explore universal themes such as existence, identity, and inner conflict. His figurative compositions, particularly those featuring motifs of hands in conflict, reflect the symbolic richness and gestural energy that characterize his work.
Giorgio Petracci, an artist originally from the Adriatic coast, will showcase works that reflect his deep connection to his natural and cultural environment. As aphotographer, painter, and sculptor, he captures evocative coastal landscapes and simple elements from everyday life. His paintings, often created on wood,transcend his photographs to reach a more intimate dimension, where the coastline becomes an echo of the movements of the soul and memory. His works invite the viewer on a journey through his memories and roots.
Juliette Lemontey, a French artist based in Arles, presents paintings that delicately explore the intimacy of the human body and the fleeting beauty of moments of rest. Her work, inspired by encounters and daily life, unfolds like a visual journal capturing subtle moments of contemplation. In her portraits, she portrays faces with exquisite nuance, inviting an internal exploration of identity and otherness. Her art, tinged with melancholy, offers a poetic reflection on the transient nature of human intimacy.
Laura Pasquino ,a ceramic artist based in Amsterdam, presents minimalist ceramics that celebrate the natural beauty and textures of clay. Having worked in Japan and Portugal before establishing her studio in the Netherlands, she balances traditional techniques with organic nuances, often leaving her pieces unglazed to highlight the material's simplicity. Her works, marked by fingerprints and tool marks, reflect her desire to give each pieces character and soul, embracing imperfection as an essential element of her art.
Mattia Listowski, a French sculptor and photographer based between Paris andBrussels, explores the symbolic relationship between memory and space. Through his narrative concrete sculptures and medium-format silver photography, he juxtaposes the permanence of stone with the fleeting nature of light, creating a dialogue between personal history and the history of civilizations. His work, rooted in architecture and craftsmanship, invites reflection on our physical and emotional connection to the world, memory, and the passage of time.
Moritz Berg, a young and visionary German artist born in 1994, explores the profound beauty hidden within the ordinary. His work captures the ephemeral moments of daily life and reveals the significance in what might seem mundane. Through his abstract paintings, Berg creates a spiritual bridge between humanity and nature, highlighting their harmonious coexistence. His art invites us to pause and appreciate the subtle, often overlooked beauty in our surroundings, offering a fresh perspective on the unity between man and nature.
RoanVan Oort, a multidisciplinary artist from the Netherlands, focuses on simplicity and timelessness through the use of natural materials. His work, characterized by a certain fragility, seeks to uncover emotional power in the rawness of these materials. Van Oort’s abstract paintings, created with natural pigments, sand, lime, and glue, allow for a range of colors and cracks to emerge organically. This process, both physical and meditative, values imperfection and the authenticity of the materials. The absence of titles invites viewers to interpret the work based on personal memories and intimate experiences, connecting deeply with nature and the essence of the material.
Victor Giannotta, known as Sepa, is an artist from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, whose deep connection with wood and distant places began early in his life. His exploration of the Jura Mountains in France enriched his understanding of wood as a universal language—rustic, elegant, and full of energy. Sepa personally harvests fallen wood and crafts objects by hand using traditional techniques, rejecting modern machinery. Inspired by his travels through Asia, his work embodies a commitment to sustainability and the timeless beauty of wood, blending tradition, skill, and passion.