Mon Métier 

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Juin 2021

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John Fou created a body of work in the Marais where tales, folk myths and fairground memories form into creatures that emerge from the artist's gesture, their symbolic meaning often becoming apparent in aftermath. The horse, at the center of the carousel (his "Métier") is double : neither fully a real allegory, nor fully an allegorical reality, his moving animals are hybrid beings of an intuitive imagination.  Also drawing his imagination from the equestrian reality of the Marais estates, the symbolic, figurative horse is confronted with the living horse in the stables.

The viewer is invited to enter a tent formed by a steel structure, and finds himself trapped in the hypnotic vision created by John. Our eyes, not allowed to rest, are caught in a cavalcade of movement, animated by the vivacity of the artist's pencil. John Fou's carousel is a call to gentle madness. 

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About 

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Coming from the world of performing arts, John Fou studied circus arts such as juggling before devoting himself to theater and dance. His pictorial practice emerged later, greatly inspired by the French painter Robert Combas, leader of “Figuration libre”. The bright colors and abundance of patterns of Combas can be found in John's work.

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