COGNAC.- The Fondation d’entreprise Martell is presenting the first retrospective exhibition in Europe of the American sculptor JB Blunk (James Blain Blunk, 1926-2002), organized in collaboration with his daughter Mariah Nielson, director of the JB Blunk Estate, with contributions from Anne Dressen, curator at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

The exhibition CONTINUUM offers an immersion into the work of JB Blunk, unknown to the general public but iconic for many artists, for whom he remains a source of inspiration. The exhibition presents a vast collection of pieces created by Blunk, allowing viewers to grasp his unique and unconventional approach: whether creating works of art or everyday objects, his work - in constant dialogue with his environment - is a powerful plea, placing creation at the heart of everyday life.

Blunk drew his inspiration from his relationship with the nature surrounding him daily: located near the small town of Inverness, California, on an exceptional site in the heart of the forest and close to the Pacific coast. Throughout his life, the artist was dedicated to creating in deep connection with his environment, utilizing the natural resources around him (sequoia stumps and driftwood, earth, stones, etc.) to craft pieces, reconnecting with ancestral forms of expression and playing with scales ranging from modest to monumental.

A selection of over 150 pieces including sculptural works, ceramics, furniture, models, paintings, sketches, and original photographs drawn from both the JB Blunk Estate and private collections illustrates the breadth of his artistic practice, at the intersection of art and craftsmanship. The exhibition includes Blunk’s earliest known ceramic vessel made in Los Angeles while a student at UCLA in the 1940s, as well as a collection of maquettes which have rarely been seen by the public until now. Additionally, letters, works on paper and other ephemera drawn from family archives shed light on the artist’s ways of working, his personal and professional connections, as well as his sources of inspiration, whether from early civilizations, different approaches to spirituality, or his pioneering vision in ecology.

A new film commissioned for the occasion captures the multiple facets of the house and studio that the sculptor built entirely by hand, from the architectural structure to the furniture, including tableware, switches, and even a fully sculpted sink. Mainly made from salvaged materials, the Blunk House, emblematic of his practice and mindset, is considered his major work of total art. The short films aim to convey the unique environment in which Blunk lived with his family near the wild coast of Point Reyes in Northern California. A second new film presents a selection of four monumental works installed in the San Francisco region: carved from blocks of giant sequoia, these public seating sculptures in urban spaces testify to another aspect of Blunk’s work.

The exhibition spans 900m2 and approaches Blunk’s work through 6 thematic sections - Japan, Landscape, Home, Archetypes, Process and Public Projects - presenting his holistic approach to design, art, and architecture. Just as Blunk did not delineate between his life and work, the exhibition sections are intertwined and porous, giving the visitor the experience of his different methods, materials, and inspirations as he experienced them: in constant, insistent conversation with each other. The scenography was specially designed by designer Martino Gamper in collaboration with graphic designer Kajsa Ståhl (Åbäke).

“By unveiling the little-known work of an artist celebrating the power of nature, life, and creation at the intersection of disciplines, this retrospective aligns with the Foundation’s am- bition to encourage the emergence of innovative artistic approaches focused on the ecological transformation of territories and our ways of life.” --Anne-Claire Duprat, Director of the Fondation d’entreprise Martell

My way of working, the core of all my sculpture, is a theme, the soul of the piece. Sometimes it is evoked by the material, sometimes it is an idea or concept in my own mind. It is always present, regardless of the material, size or scale of what will be the finished piece. On occasions, when I work with found objects, the object itself evokes the theme. In these cases, I do very little to change it. One could say the theme is recognized. In carving wood, it is a matter of revealing the theme and is achieved by removing material. Since I principally use a chainsaw to do this, it is a process that moves quickly.

At times cutting away and forming happen so fast it is almost unconscious. The fact of working with a tool that is dangerous affects the manner of shaping the piece. The esthetic process is balanced with extreme awareness and attention to safety. Often, as I uncover more of the form, I encounter unexpected qualities, faults or voids in the wood that may change my intention, and sometimes the theme itself. This is a satisfying and exciting aspect of working on large pieces. the fact that both my idea of what I want the piece to be, its own intrinsic theme, and the dictates of the finished object, be it chair, table, bench or sculpture, need to be accommodated. Sculpting stone is very different. It is deliberate, much slower, and not as likely to offer the unexpected as wood. Overall, it is difficult to explain a way of working that even for me, the person doing it is inexplicable. I suppose one could say I enter into a relationship with the material I am using, and as in all relationships there opportunities for surprise. ---JB Blunk