Dans la Jungle du Douanier Rousseau
Dans la Jungle du Douanier Rousseau
Profils et Reliefs, Atelier d'Arts de la Butte aux Cailles
October 15–16, 2023
Ceramic sculpture meets naive naturalism in this Parisian homage to Rousseau's jungle visions.
Hosted at the intimate Atelier d'Arts de la Butte aux Cailles in Paris's 13th arrondissement, Dans la Jungle du Douanier Rousseau brought together artists working within the tradition of naive and primitivist aesthetics that Henri Rousseau pioneered over a century ago. The weekend exhibition, organized by the collective Profils et Reliefs, transformed the historic workshop space into a contemporary jungle where sculptural forms, paintings, and mixed media works engaged in dialogue with Rousseau's legacy of dreamlike naturalism and untrained authenticity.
Among the works presented, Arnaud Quercy's The Cat of Istanbul – Variations 2 stood as a striking meditation on urban wildlife and cultural memory. This ceramic sculpture distills the feline form into essential geometries—angular planes and earthy textures that evoke both cubist abstraction and ancient totemic artifacts. The piece speaks to the mysterious cats that have inhabited Istanbul's streets for millennia, creatures that belong to no one yet seem to carry the city's soul in their watchful presence.
Quercy's contribution resonates deeply with the exhibition's thematic framework. Like Rousseau, who never visited the jungles he painted yet captured their essence through imagination and longing, Quercy approaches his subject through the lens of symbolic compression rather than literal representation. The cat becomes a vessel for broader questions about coexistence, tradition, and the persistence of the wild within urban landscapes. Its totemic verticality suggests something archaeological—a fragment of collective memory surfacing through the layered histories of a city where ancient and modern continuously interweave.
The Butte aux Cailles neighborhood provided an apt setting for this exploration. Known for its village-like atmosphere within the metropolis, the quarter embodies the same tensions between preservation and change that Quercy's sculpture addresses. Dans la Jungle du Douanier Rousseau invited visitors to step outside conventional exhibition frameworks and encounter art in a space where craft, community, and creative expression have long intersected, much as Rousseau himself worked outside the academic mainstream while reshaping what modern art could become.
Artist Statement
Presented during Dans la Jungle du Douanier Rousseau in Paris, The Cat of Istanbul – Variations 2 evokes both the wildness and mystique of one of the world's most iconic urban animals. Sculpted in ceramic, the piece strips the feline form down to its essential geometries, combining cubist abstraction with tactile materiality.
This sculpture is part of an ongoing exploration into the expressive potential of animal form. Here, the cat becomes more than a subject—it becomes a city's voice. Its proud solitude, quiet rebellion, and omnipresence in Istanbul's streets serve as metaphors for coexistence between tradition and modernity.
With angular contours, earthy textures, and a totemic verticality, The Cat of Istanbul appears almost archaeological—like a forgotten artifact unearthed from the layers of time and story that define the city. I invite the viewer to contemplate not only the animal, but the unseen tensions and harmonies of urban life it represents.
Logistics
The exhibition took place over the weekend of October 15–16, 2023, with opening hours from 14:00 to 18:00 on both Saturday and Sunday. Admission was free. The Atelier d'Arts de la Butte aux Cailles is located in the 13th arrondissement, accessible via Métro Line 6 (Corvisart) or Line 7 (Place d'Italie). For inquiries, contact 06 58 05 40 68.
