Joël Andrianomearisoa

In 2022, as part of Mondes Nouveaux, the artist unveils Au rythme de nos désirs dansons sur la vague du temp, a sculpture created for the future Cité Internationale de la Francophonie at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, inaugurated by the french Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot.

In 2022 in Milan and at the Château de Chaumont, with Les herbes folles du vieux logis, Joël Andrianomearisoa makes a nod to the Malagasy poet Maurice Ramarozaka, from whom he borrows the title of a collection of poems for a series of pastel drawings, large textile paintings and smaller designs based on the assembly of gold silk thread.

In 2022, he participated in the edition of a Moleskine notebook.

In 2021, he inaugurates in his native city of Antananarivo, an impressive sculpture on the Avenue of Independence. This sculpture is the first of a series that the artist will try out on several territories.

In 2021, Joël Andrianomearisoa became the seventh artistic sponsor of the A.S. Velasca. The same year, with the perfume house Diptyque, as part of the 60th anniversary of the brand, he collaborated with Olivia Giacobetti, nose of the brand, on a particular fragrance and pays tribute to the city of Paris and the number 34 of the 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain, birthplace of the house.

Since its inauguration in 2020, he is the artistic director of Hakanto Contemporary, an independent art center of 300m ² free of charge in Antananarivo for the valorization of Malagasy artists and the dialogue of cultures.

Graduated in architecture, he works with different materials for his creations. Known for his monumental works such as I have forgotten the night, an important installation of black silk paper presented at the Venice Biennale in 2019, or at the exhibition Brise du rouge soleil on the tower and ramparts of Aigues-Mortes on the occasion of the Africa 2020 Season. In 2022, he exhibited his work The Five Continents of All Our Desires at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town. His creations are often made from textiles, paper, sometimes wood, minerals, or unexpected objects (mirrors, perfumes, etc.).

From May to November 2019, he represents Madagascar for the first Malagasy pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale with his project "I have forgotten the night". The same year, he was also named "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" by the Malagasy Minister of Culture and Communication, Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy Andriatongarivo.

In 2019, he was invited by Dior to make his own version of the Lady Dior bag, which, for this occasion, took the name Lady Dior Art. He worked on the entire environment of the Lady Dior Art, from its lining to its packaging. He says he has created two versions of the object that he will name "The labyrinth of Lady Dior".

Several works by the artist are characterized by their monumental and poetic character as the Labyrinth of passion, a diptych composed of a large piece of white and black silk paper for which Joël Andrianomarisoa became the first non-Spanish artist to receive in 2016 the Arco Madrid Audemars Piguet prize or I Have Forgotten the Night for the Pavilion of Madagascar at the Venice Biennale.

As a part of this first pioneering wave of contemporary African artists, he also actively participates in the cultural and artistic development of Madagascar with, among others, the Manja fashion festival (1998), the Sanga 3 dance festival (2003), the Photoana festival (2005), the personal project (2007), 30 et Presque-Songes (2011), Parlez-moi (2016) and the Madagascar Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Joël Andrianomearisoa was born and grew up in Antananarivo, and lived through the period of socialist revolution led by Commander Didier Ratsiraka, also known as "the Red Admiral". His grandfather is an academician "defender of the Malagasy language". Raised in a bourgeois family, within a cultural environment in full ebullition, he is quickly attracted by the drawing. He was inspired by the Malagasy writer Élie Rajaonarison. He took his first steps as an artist in the mid-90s at the age of 18. From the beginning, his work is concretized by performances that earned him the cover of Revue Noire Madagascar in 1998. He then explored many disciplines such as fashion, design, video, photography, scenography, architecture, installations and visual arts.

In 1997, at the age of 20, he entered the École Spéciale d'Architecture of Paris, after hesitating between fine arts and a design school. In 2005, he graduated as an architect, presenting an entirely graphic and textile project, far from the classical architectural approach and encouraged by his research director, Odile Decq.

Joël Andrianomearisoa is a Malagasy artist, born in 1977 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. He lives and works between Paris and his birthplace.