CHAMPAGNE AS SCULPTURE
Commissioned by Champagne-maker Rare Champagne as a larger-than-life portrait of their Rare Millésime 2013 vintage, French artist Arnaud Lapierre took to aluminum and weighted steel to recreate a visual experience of what champagne feels like, shimmering light in the foreground of tradition.
The artist’s first inspiration was the Novaya effect, the crackling sound of the sun as it rises and sets. In this way, RISE is almost a multi-sensorial experience; it’s missing taste—a glass anyone?—as well as touch—a jewel? Indeed, the mirrors recall the world of High Jewelry: figurative and sparkling, bold and fine.
Rare Champage is no stranger to the milieu, having collaborated with Mellerio on a bejeweled Champagne edition in 2018 entitled ‘Rare Le Secret Haute Joaillerie’. It features a solid gold muselet and interwoven bands of gold and platinum threads, embedded with a carat of a stone for the choosing: diamond, ruby, sapphire or emerald. Only 10 magnums exist worldwide; bought, and probably to be sold, at High Jewelry prices.
“RISE is a work of experience, a work of immersion,” says Lapierre. Pure mirror play, a reflection of self and world.
RISE, until November 9th, 2023
Place Simone Veil, Hôtel de Ville
Reims, France
CHAMPAGNE AS SCULPTURE
Over 200 dancing mirrors concentrate and rise before the Town Hall of Reims, France; a region where Champagne was born, and where it lives.
Each golden mirror evokes a bubble of sparkling Champagne, a bunch of grapes, and the frenzy of a solar particles. Each fragments the reflected environment as a living mosaic measuring 600 x 500 cm.
Commissioned by Champagne-maker Rare Champagne as a larger-than-life portrait of their Rare Millésime 2013 vintage, French artist Arnaud Lapierre took to aluminum and weighted steel to recreate a visual experience of what champagne feels like, shimmering light in the foreground of tradition.
The artist’s first inspiration was the Novaya effect, the crackling sound of the sun as it rises and sets. In this way, RISE is almost a multi-sensorial experience; it’s missing taste—a glass anyone?—as well as touch—a jewel? Indeed, the mirrors recall the world of High Jewelry: figurative and sparkling, bold and fine.
Rare Champage is no stranger to the milieu, having collaborated with Mellerio on a bejeweled Champagne edition in 2018 entitled ‘Rare Le Secret Haute Joaillerie’. It features a solid gold muselet and interwoven bands of gold and platinum threads, embedded with a carat of a stone for the choosing: diamond, ruby, sapphire or emerald. Only 10 magnums exist worldwide; bought, and probably to be sold, at High Jewelry prices.
“RISE is a work of experience, a work of immersion,” says Lapierre. Pure mirror play, a reflection of self and world.
RISE, until November 9th, 2023
Place Simone Veil, Hôtel de Ville
Reims, France