Reflective gold spheres form a heart-shaped sculpture on a round metal base against a white background.

Jean-Michel Othoniel

Kokoro (gold)

€3,500

Limited edition

Edition of 60

Shipping begins in April and finishes in August

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Jean-Michel Othoniel distills his monumental glass heart sculptures into a new limited edition brass work.

Kokoro (gold) takes its name from the Japanese word referring to the heart as an organ and love itself. The form originated from Othoniel's first public commission in Japan – a giant red glass heart at the entrance of the Hara Museum ARC which visitors walked through. The heart has since appeared in numerous iterations, including a Murano glass version placed in Avignon chapel at the historic site where Renaissance poet Petrarch experienced love at first sight – what the French call ‘coup de foudre’.

Each sculpture is meticulously crafted from gold-plated polished brass, hand-assembled on a mirrored nickel-plated brass base, with the reflection transforming the heart into a symbol of infinity.

Jean-Michel Othoniel

3 collaborations

There are no limits to what Othoniel can imagine with glass. With a three-decade-long career behind him, his monumental sculptures only continue to grow in scale and symbolism. Utilising unorthodox materials including sulphur, wax and volcanic glass, Othoniel explores the possibilities of material, and how such materials reveal the poetic fragility of human experience. Colossal beaded necklaces are a central motif. With no-one wearing the chains, they represent “absence” and the ephemerality of life. Byzantine dances from the Middle Ages are an important influence, as well as the complex forms of nature. Resisting trends within conceptual art in the 1990s, Othoniel wanted to create something unabashedly beautiful.

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