CURATORSHIP: ANA CAROLINA DE VILLANUEVA (LUKA GALLERY)Jonathän Jouan is a contemporary artist based in Montreal, Canada, whose practice bridges fine craft, sculpture, and material research. Originally from France, he studied art history before training in traditional cabinetmaking in Canada. He...
Read MoreCURATORSHIP: ANA CAROLINA DE VILLANUEVA (LUKA GALLERY)
Jonathän Jouan is a contemporary artist based in Montreal, Canada, whose practice bridges fine craft, sculpture, and material research. Originally from France, he studied art history before training in traditional cabinetmaking in Canada. He later spent five years in Denmark, where he established his studio and further developed his artistic practice, before returning to Canada. During this time, he independently mastered rye straw marquetry, which has become his signature material.
Working across sculpture, objects, and installations, Jonathän Jouan combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary experimentation to create new ways of working with rye straw, wood, and metal. His work draws inspiration from mythology, living systems, and the transmission of knowledge, creating speculative worlds that invite viewers to reflect on humanity's relationship with the living world and the unseen connections that shape it.
His ongoing project, Amoebas Realm, unfolds as an alternate history of civilization where biology, folklore, and material culture evolve together. Through this expanding body of work, Jonathän positions craft as a living language capable of generating new forms of storytelling and material innovation, while challenging the status quo between contemporary art, fine craft, and design.
