The cultural season of 2026 in the City was opened last Wednesday with a private preview visit of the P. Chappert-Gaujal exhibition at the contemporary art space until June 20th.
Particularly cheerful, P. Chappert-Gaujal, an internationally renowned artist based in La Franqui and Fitou for large-scale formats, sculptures, etc., embraced Lavoisier’s motto “Nothing is lost, everything is transformed.” Not surprising coming from a man who dreamed of being a scientist as a child. But his talent was elsewhere.
Decades later, having become a champion of upcycling (the action of transforming objects without destroying them), he has thousands of works to his name, some small-scale, others monumental sculptures, some using paper with a preference for that from the magazine “Elle,” others using driftwood, that is, wood and plastic collected from the beach. Always on the lookout for materials, he extends the life of objects while preserving craftsmanship and energy, so that “all the work that was needed does not disappear” if it were to be recycled.
Never short of ideas, as evidenced by the filled pages of his notebooks, he allows himself anything because “contemporary art is the last space of freedom in this world.”
At present, both a painter and sculptor, he invites visitors to the contemporary art space to discover a hundred of his creations, including vertical pieces, reliefs, friezes on canvas, nautical charts, which he describes as “useful for travel, a treasure map, which helps to navigate, to orient oneself. Mine are used to get lost if one wants to play the game. Several different directions are possible, series of Chinese porcelain made down there, driftwood, tondos (round paintings), sculptures, and other works. In total, a beautiful collection to explore all facets of his art and to reflect on our “relationship with objects, consumption, and collective memory,,” says Marie-Lou Lajus, deputy mayor, who is delighted to make contemporary art accessible to everyone through this exhibition, with the opening taking place on Friday at 6:30 pm, and to facilitate the encounter between the artist, his works, and the public.
