The total art of Vincent Mengin
Vincent Mengin-Lecreulx was a pioneer of creative spaces and a jack-of-all-trades who devoted his entire life to creating and promoting contemporary art. Passing away at the age of 74 in February 2023, he leaves behind a major body of work. It all began in 1980, when Vincent opened his home-workshop to visitors, turning it into a veritable museum, combining personal and artistic life. Supported by his wife Roselyne, Vincent let his imagination fill the space. Located in Saint-Pierre, the Lieu d'art contemporain Vincent Mengin initially housed the lithographer's studio, plus a showroom and artists' residence. Some fifty exhibitions were held in the two-storey gallery. The third floor was reserved for workshops in engraving, painting, sculpture, photography and video. Now rebuilt as the Palais aux 7 Portes, P7P organizes guided tours of its Sculpture Park. Dozens of artists have taken up residencies on the Archambaud 400 estate. Among them are such great names in contemporary art as Errö, Hervé Di Rosa, Christian Jaccard, Sabine Weiss and Nils Udo. Each has left major works at the LAC, building up over time the island's only site of this scale, a veritable temple of total art patiently erected by the artist over time. Vincent Mengin's final work, a sculpture created with students from Saint-Philippe, has been installed in front of the local cinema.
Collective Initiatives
Somewhat following in his footsteps, partly because it's in Réunion's DNA, group artistic projects are proliferating. The most famous local event, Boranbor, was born in 2003 under the impetus of the Kriké Kraké association. On this occasion, artists from all horizons exhibit, sell and meet on the banks of the Rivière d'Abord, near the port of Saint-Pierre. The Hang'art association then takes over, inviting creators under its parasols. A veritable open-air gallery, it brings together all the artistic mediums and cultures present in the area. Year after year, the event has seen the emergence of a multiple yet united identity. Every last Sunday of the month, under the trees on the banks of the Rivière d'Abord, easels, portrait workshops and sculptures are set up, sometimes to the sound of a concert or fashion show.
Vavang' Art is a third-party reference point, offering a wide range of events on a regular basis. Exhibitions, workshops, screenings and games are organized around the restaurant Le Comptoir des Arts. Local, inexpensive, homemade cuisine to savor while immersing yourself in local art. This is the place to be in Entre Deux.
In a completely different register, almost the opposite, the Opus project presents a virtual gallery dedicated to showcasing the work of Réunionese painters, photographers and sculptors. In addition to promoting the artists on its site, this revolutionary concept allows users to try out works of art before purchasing them. Several rental formulas are available to individuals and companies: for a month, a year or forever, you can cohabit with original works of art. A real treat!
Street art in abundance
As you explore the island, it's impossible to miss the gigantic works of art that can be seen everywhere, on walls and buildings, in towns and in the countryside. Here too, diversity is the watchword. Probably the most famous graffiti artist active on the island is Jace. Born in Le Havre, Jace is the father of the famous gouzou, a pudgy, anonymous but expressive character he stages on the island's walls: gouzou on a skateboard, gouzou and his lover in a hammock suspended between two TV sets... Since 1992, gouzou has had no shortage of humor, even if he likes to anchor himself in current affairs. Sometimes, gouzous even travel the world. Other artists include Konix, a pioneer of graffiti art in Saint-Denis, Floé, a graphic artist with a sober, cheerful style, and the poetic Floafleur, who scatters fairies across the island's facades. The duo Kid Kreol & Boogie (real names Jean-Sébastien Clain and Yannis Nanguet) are particularly representative of Creole identity in urban art. Born on Reunion Island in the 1980s, these two artists set out to tell the story of the roots of their culture through images, where Creole tradition is generally oral. Through street art, they translate ancestral stories and tales in primitive forms using contemporary techniques. A whole fascinating universe hides in wastelands, on isolated walls or in front of commercial buildings.
Galleries open to the world
On the island, several gallery-workshops are dedicated to the art of their owners, but a few addresses are devoted to promoting local and international visual artists. For example, painter André Béton has turned his studio in Bourg-Murat into an art gallery showcasing local and international artists, with a focus on diversity and otherness. André Béton is also an eminent "caritologist". He delights his guests in his studio with delicious wood-fired curries.
The charming Cheminements gallery in Saint-Gilles-les-Hauts is housed in a small wooden hut. The association that runs it, located at l'Éperon in Saint-Gilles-les-Hauts, has also been organizing the Nuit d'art de pleine lune (Full Moon Art Night) for several years. On this occasion, works are specially designed by selected artists. Cheminements promotes creativity by encouraging encounters between the artist, the work and the public. Through its actions, it is gradually weaving a network that contributes to the vitality of art on Réunion Island and in the Indian Ocean, while proposing projects designed to make contemporary art accessible.
Lovers of photographic art will want to push open the door of the Edgar Marsy gallery. The photographer welcomes you to his small space to present his work alongside some fine finds. Born in Lille in 1973, Edgar Marsy started out as a freelance photographer before moving to Réunion Island. For over ten years, he has been publishing his black-and-white photographs as postcards. His favorite theme is man and his land, explored outside the walls in Rodrigues, Mauritius and Bangkok.
Two major artists: Cathelain and Lesquelin
In Les Avirons, Jean-Marie Cathelain opens his studio to visitors. After years of figurative painting, the artist now devotes himself to mixed media, combining collage, paint and salvaged materials. The result is uneven reliefs streaked with tears, revealing superimpositions of colored spaces. Cathelain's work symbolizes an ephemeral everyday life, with textures and assemblages that capture matter and remind us of our own fragility.
Charly Lesquelin, painter from Reunion Island and leader of the Gondwana music group, has been painting his creolité since 1992. In his canvases, he exalts his childhood memories implanted in colorful huts and modernity in a unique style. His paintings, halfway between figuration and abstraction, portray the complexity of his island, a population that evolves between technology and age-old traditions. Whether landscapes, scenes of daily life or portraits, each of his works confirms that he has become one of his island's leading painters.
Patchwork of inspirations
Contemporary art in Réunion cannot be divided into trends. The art scene is searching for itself, slowly detaching itself from influences from the four corners of the world while at the same time valuing its origins. The result is an open-mindedness that allows all types of personalities to express themselves. The sole aim of this selection of artists is to help you find your way around this thousand-faceted panorama.
Lovers of local landscapes will undoubtedly appreciate the work of Jean-Paul Apataudé. This self-taught artist demonstrates his sensitivity to tropical light in his realistic landscapes of his island. Gérard Joly illustrates Reunion Island in his seascapes and windswept painted landscapes. Somewhere between abstraction and figuration, the painter succeeds in making us smell the foam of the waves and the volcanic vapors.
Influenced by surrealism, the Franco-Italian painter Fiorella, who has lived on Réunion Island since 2004, reveals a world of heightened sensuality and fragility. In her works, forces clash in the image of her colors: pink confronts black, as happiness defies pain.
Rivelino Mammosa's paintings in shades of gray invite us to travel to the Reunion of yesteryear. The characters and places that marked his childhood convey the nostalgia of a bygone era. Gilbert Payet's chromatic contrasts humorously take us into today's world. Payet juxtaposes objects, faces and architectural elements without concern for realism.
Nathalie Villate-Lafontaine creates sculptures from frail frames of metal rods. Made of plant fibers dipped in plaster, her lanky figures are reminiscent of mythological characters who question the origin of the world. The artist also draws contrasting works in ink on Japanese paper. A clash of colors, a dialogue between light and darkness, her works leave no one indifferent.
Painter and draughtswoman Géraldine Gabin teaches "rando-croquis" with passion. Her travel journals tell much more than just the story of her sojourns in Africa. The memory of an island, bathed in fantastic tales and tributes to Mother Nature, unfolds on her pages, where watercolor enhances portraits that reveal the island as it is today.
