Focus on Jérémy Gobé

Actively involved in major art and art market events for over 30 years, Artprice also provides support to certain artists whose work it considers of vital importance. This is the case of the French artist Jérémy Gobé who focuses on the development of solutions to environmental challenges. Convinced of the value of his approach, Artprice is sponsoring his installation Corail Artefact-Coalition. The work has been installed in the hall of Gare Saint Lazare in Paris, until 7 November 2021.

Coalition is a ‘depolluting work’… a work intended to enhance public awareness of issues relating to the disappearance of corals while at the same time drawing attention to the traditional crafts of lace-making and presenting an innovative made-in-France ecological solution. For the design of this installation Jérémy Gobé was initially inspired by Neptune’s Brain (Diploria labyrinthiformis), a common species of coral forming geometric patterns in ‘Greek’, also found on the so-called ‘vermiculated’ facades of many Parisian buildings such as Le Louvre.

Jérémy Gobé collaborated with the company Maison Solstiss, a traditional manufacturer of mechanical lace based in Caudry, to have the Neptune’s Brain pattern woven using natural fibers in coral-like colors. Alongside this beautiful lace, Gobé juxtaposes a new generation of lace capable of depolluting the ambient air, thereby reproducing the action of coral which captures CO2 to transform it into O2. This new technological and ecological lace took two years to develop.

Coalition highlights just one of the beneficial actions of coral for planet Earth: it consumes CO2 to make its skeleton and produces oxygen in return, acting as a sort of reverse lung for the planet, much in the same way forests do. The installation also promotes the idea of the links between traditional know-how and innovation.

> A work produced by the Corail Artefact Endowment Fund at the invitation of the Biennale Révélations and SNCF Gares & Connexions.

Genesis of an “art for life”

The Corail Artefact project – which aims to preserve/regenerate coral reefs and protect coasts – was initially conceived in 2017. The following year, Jérémy Gobé was invited by the Lyon association HS-Projets to participate in the 2018 edition of Clermont-Ferrand’s International Festival of Extraordinary Textiles where he encountered and became interested in point d’esprit, a finely woven traditional pattern of bobbin net lace from Puy-en-Velay, which looks similar in design to one of the coral skeletons. This encounter led to a question: What if lace could actually help to save corals?. In early 2018, Gobé created an RDI program (Research, Development and Innovation) combining art, science, industry and education in a project he called Corail Artefact. The same year, the first tests of the lace material were conducted in a laboratory setting.

The first stage of the research protocol already showed that cotton lace is a potential substrate for coral fixation and the proliferation of its larvae. Since then, Jérémy Gobé has been working on a 2.0 lace made from fibers with an even better technical efficacity than cotton.

The Corail Artefact project also includes structures made from ecological concrete to recreate destroyed coral reefs. The production of cement is one of the most CO2 producing activities in the world. Traditional’ concrete – sand, gravel and cement – is therefore an un-ecological substrata for coral regeneration. By substituting the sand and cement of existing artificial reefs with materials that are both bio-based and renewable, we can ensure that all such projects are as close to 100% ecological as possible.

Jérémy Gobé

Born in 1986 in Cambrai, France, Gobé lives and works in Paris.

A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Nancy and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Jérémy Gobé positions his artistic work at the heart of the social and environmental issues of contemporary society. His work – built around the transmission and interaction between traditional disciplines and technical know-how – bears witness to an altruistic and committed vision of Contemporary art in which artworks are conceived both as warnings and as concrete suggestions for ways forward and solutions to serious environmental problems.

Constantly looking for new solutions and materials, Jérémy Gobé’s approach is similar to that of a scientist: starting from an experimental protocol, the artist enriches his creative processes through innovative research at the crossroads of several disciplines. He therefore allows us to envisage a new ‘virtuous ecosystem’ where art is a vehicle for raising awareness of contemporary challenges and inspiring real and practical solutions.

Distinctions

2020: awarded the PRIX DE L’ART SOUS LA MER, (Undersea Art Prize), Jacques Rougerie Foundation
2020: awarded the  the PIERRE CARDIN PRIZE
2019: international THÉOPHILE LEGRAND PRIZE for Textile Innovation and Special Trophies Jury Prize from the Haute-Loire Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Innovation Category “ÉCONOMIE LOCALE”.
Finalist in the Environment Category of AVENIR EUROPE trophies.
2015: finalist of the CORAL OCEAN PRIZE.
Nominated for the FID PRIZE 2015 (international Contemporary drawing prize).
2011: Winner of the BULLUKIAN PRIZE.
Finalist of the 2011 AUDI TALENTS AWARDS at the 2011 Fiac.
Winner of the 2011 PIERRE GAUTIER-DELAYE PRIZE.
Finalist of the 2011 ICART PRIZE, “Les Artistes de Demain” (Tomorrow’s artists).