Jade Fourès-Varnier & Vincent de Hoÿm

Jade Fourès-Varnier and Vincent de Hoÿm (1984, Paris, Narbonne) envisage art as a continuation of life. They create environments inspired by a domestic universe where visitors are received like guests. According to the context, this duo adapts their propositions which can be seen as a form of “total art” or an interpersonal aesthetic. At the centre of a process which encompasses painting, sculpture, decorative arts, fashion, video, performance, their exhibitions approach notions of sharing, being together and generosity. They founded Tonus, an artist-run space in 2014, in Paris, which perpetuates this state of mind.
At the villa Noailles, Jade and Vincent intercede through touches that are between the exterior and the interior. In the Cour des pieds carrés, blending in with the vegetation, they have installed a series of earthenware furniture which are decorated with a collection of vases and jugs, a landscape of parasol pines overlooking the Mediterranean and shades of blues. A few painted and biscuit-fired earthenware paving stones are discretely placed like postcards between the pre-existing terracotta square tiles of the benches. Irises can be seen, mimosas, suspended bodies… Further away on the central staircase the duo have installed a series of six mural paintings going from the ground floor to the second floor. Framed within uniform curtains, pleated and inspired from Victorian fashion, these watercolour frescos arise suddenly like picture windows: a format that has been chosen to open out onto a world that is floating, vivid colours, imprinted with melancholy and light.
On visiting the shop, you can discover their suits and painted plates, unique items signed Jacent Varoym – a combination of their two names which they use as a commercial label – and adorned with their emblem: a black ear of wheat.