Biography
Benjamin Gaumard is a French artist born in 1987.
If you ask him where he comes from, he will answer wood, consequence of a childhood surrounded by a family of handymen and especially a grandfather blacksmith. As if finally, a manual heredity flowed in his veins, ready to express itself.
Seven years is the number of years of collaboration between Benjamin and the designer Kenzo. Beyond the professional aspect, these years will undeniably shape the artist of today. The submerged face of this inspiration? Origami, a true art of folding from Japan, Kenzo’s native land. If we want to understand the artist, we have to dig into his memories, like during his last trip to Japan with the designer during the cherry blossom season, when he couldn’t look away from the light that seeped through the branches. Or when in Burma, they leave in a hot air balloon, Benjamin’s eye lost on the shadows of the temples projected on the ground by the sun.
This light, these shadows, will never leave him.
The artist is ready to blossom, and to express himself fully he leaves the city life and goes to settle in Ardeche. And it is here that the escape will take shape. Benjamin’s works retrace his history. The wood, symbol of balance, and in essence the one that links the earth to the sky, serves as a structure. The resined origami, form thanks to a meticulous composition this “Murmuration” of birds. Within this cloud, the birds function together as one organism, changing direction and undulating with the light. The work around the carried light is a cornerstone of Benjamin’s art, concretizing thanks to the shadows this will to leave the work of its only frame. This light, always present, sweeping the assembly, reveals the work. Finally, his works are adorned with white letting emanate a purity, a wisdom, like a feeling of absolute peace for the one who looks at it.
The Murmurations are born.
