As the most significant visual art event of Festival Croisements 2013, the French artist Jean-Pierre Raynaud will be holding an exhibition in China in Xin Dong Cheng Space for Contemporary Art with his latest works.

Jean-Pierre Raynaud is a renowned French artist. In 1993, he represented France in the national exhibition of the 45th Venice Biennale, and was awarded Prix d'honneur. Raynaud's artworks are never restrained to forms, advocating to break away from the limit of space and time with a full expression of personality and freedom. His masterpiece pot doré had been exhibited in the Beijing Palace Museum and Berlin. Afterwards it was placed in the Center Georges Pompidou. From material to architecture, and with the extension of environment, Raynaud's creativity conveys strong sense of sign and symbol.

These latest works are Founded on his Neolithic Skull series of 1993. The image of skull is the most original and essential life form of human being. Beneath its rigid appearance, the powerful psychological energy is contained. After becoming a father, Raynaud tries to re-create the skull images, decorating them with delightful, feminine accessories as a record of the growth of his daughter. The touching paternal love is revealed most incisively from the works of this senior artist. With the transformation from wildness to sweetness, an "emotional subject" seems to have replaced his previous emphasis on "psycho-object". With the combination of the scary skeleton and innocent childness, Raynaud not only delivers a common theme of human feelings, but he also indicates the inheritance of life and the return of love. Through these artworks, the artist's insistence of absolute personal expression is well reflected with a true representation of his current state of mind.

Courtesy of Xin Dong Cheng Space for Contemporary Art