Friedman Benda is pleased to present, Fragments , French designer Ferréol Babin’s first solo gallery exhibition and the first time a comprehensive body of his work will be on view to the public. Fragments demonstrates Babin’s passion for craft, which permeates his life and practice. For Babin, each creative pursuit is a vehicle for reflection and storytelling.
Fragments was informed by an invitation for Babin to participate in an immersive artist residency by IN Residence in Turin. Exploring the city’s rich architectural culture and key historical role in Italian design, Babin evokes historical methods and motifs through his own poetic approach. Informed by Medieval wooden scaffolding used for building practices, a Vestige shelving unit and bench in dark oak appear as archaeological remnants re-envisioned through a contemporary lens. Another focal point of the show is his commanding Monolithe sideboard, which hints at being sculpted as much by wind or fire as by the human hand. Offering ambiguity for the viewer to wonder how a piece is made, Babin leaves behind fragments so one can discover the meaning of an object on their own.
Through his extensive study of wood-working techniques in France and Japan, Babin acquired the skills to respect and manipulate the material. Expressing reverence to the integrity of time-honored materials, tools and methods, Babin draws inspiration from the physical process of making. “Everything I create every day is a small fragment of my own language—a small fragment of me— and speaks to my innate need to relentlessly make things,” he states. Fragments highlights Babin’s most ambitious work to date in narrative, scale and complexity.
The exhibition will be accompanied by the first monograph on the work of Ferréol Babin, published by Italian publisher Quodlibet with texts by curators Barbara Brondi and Marco Rainò.
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ABOUT FERRÉOL BABIN
Ferréol Babin was born in 1987 in Dijon, France. After graduating with a degree in Space Design from L’École Nationale Supérieure d’Art in Dijon, he moved to Japan to study at Nagoya University of Art & Design. He then returned to France where he graduated from ESAD of Reims in Object Design in 2012. Upon graduation, he decided to establish his own studio practice. In 2014, he was selected for a one-year residency to work at Fabrica, the Benetton’s communications research center, based in Treviso, Italy where his projects included industrial design, scenography or conceptual installations. Babin currently lives and works near Nantes, France.
ABOUT BARBARA BRONDI AND MARCO RAINÒ
Barbara Brondi and Marco Rainò are architects, designers and independent curators based in Turin, Italy. In 2002 they established BRH+, an award-winning architecture practice characterized by a comprehensive approach and research open to the convergence of disciplines. Curators of numerous exhibitions and authors of several editorial projects, they are interested in critical investigation related to design. In this experimental direction, they founded IN Residence, a non-profit cultural program for contemporary design research.
