Salon d'art contemporain – Metamorphose, Paris

Presented at the historic Halle des Blancs Manteaux in the heart of Paris's Marais district, Arnaud Quercy's participation in MÉTAMORPHOSE 2024–2025 brought together two distinct yet deeply interconnected bodies of work: selections from his ongoing Synesthetic Explorations series and a collection of sculptural pieces crafted from reclaimed materials. The exhibition, now an established fixture in the Parisian art calendar, provided a compelling platform for sixty artists whose practices engage with transformation, reuse, and material reinvention.

Quercy's Synesthetic Explorations continue his sustained investigation into the translation of auditory experience into visual form. These chromesthetic paintings arise from the artist's perception of musical structures—harmonic progressions, tonal relationships, and rhythmic patterns rendered visible through pigment and gesture. Works such as D minor - Research on Harmony - Variation 1 and C Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 1 exemplify this approach, transforming the invisible architecture of sound into layered abstractions that pulse with the energy of their sonic origins.

Complementing the paintings, Quercy's sculptural works introduce a more tactile dimension to the exhibition's central theme of metamorphosis. Constructed from recovered metals, reclaimed wood, and urban debris, these pieces embody the alchemical potential latent in discarded materials. Where the synesthetic paintings translate one sensory realm into another, the sculptures enact a parallel transformation—elevating the overlooked and abandoned into objects of contemplation and aesthetic presence.

The dialogue between these two bodies of work reveals the conceptual coherence underlying Quercy's practice. Whether working with pigment or found material, his art navigates the tensions between structure and intuition, the planned and the spontaneous, permanence and flux. MÉTAMORPHOSE offered an ideal context for this exploration, situating Quercy's investigations within a broader community of artists committed to the poetry of unexpected materials and the transformative power of artistic vision.

Artist Statement

For the 2024–2025 edition of MÉTAMORPHOSE, I presented a selection of works from my Synesthetic Explorations collection alongside a series of sculptural pieces rooted in recovered and repurposed materials. These works align with the exhibition's ethos—transformation through artistic alchemy.

In my Synesthetic Explorations, I continue my translation of sound into color and movement, building compositions that arise from musical perception and emotional structure. Through rhythmic contrasts, tonal harmony, and layered abstraction, I render visible the invisible chords of sensation. Each painting becomes a visual echo of harmony or dissonance—like a score interpreted through pigment.

Complementing the paintings, my sculptural works reflect a more tactile approach to metamorphosis. Made from reclaimed metals, wood, and urban debris, these pieces blur the boundaries between object, artifact, and artwork. In both mediums, I explore the tension between structure and intuition, reason and impulse, form and freedom.

Logistics

The MÉTAMORPHOSE exhibition took place at the Halle des Blancs Manteaux, located at 48, rue Vieille du Temple in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The exhibition was open daily from 11:00 to 20:00 throughout its run from 26 December 2024 to 5 January 2025. A vernissage was held on Thursday, 26 December from 18:00 to 22:00. Admission was free throughout the exhibition period, welcoming visitors to discover works by sixty artists united by the theme of transformation and material reinvention.