Siegfried Contemporary is delighted to present “Flora and Fauna”, a two person exhibition by Angelique de Folin and Harumi Klossowska de Rola.
The idea of bringing these two artists together stems from Andreas Siegfried' lifelong connection to nature. Growing up in the Swiss countryside with its abundant vegetation and rich ecosystem has informed his sensibility and in London, Andreas has transported this passion to his garden, which has become his sanctuary, together with the art collection that surrounds him.
Angélique de Folin has established herself as a vellum-based painting expert, using the animal skin material as her base and nature as her inspiration. For this exhibition Angelique de Folin has produced ten works on vellum, featuring vegetative and floral biospheres with the studies of plants, fruits, fungus and her interpretation of tree bark. Her works are detailed and thorough, creating a striking realistic depiction of the nature surrounding us and making her one of the most accurate flora artists of our generation. This exhibition is the first for Angelique since her last one with Siegfried Contemporary in 2016, and her earlier 2006 exhibition at the Museum of Garden History. more recently Folin’s work has been selected for inclusion in the Highgrove Florilegium, depicting the flora of Highgrove, and again for the Transylvania Florilegium, being created under the umbrella of the Prince of Wales’s Foundation Romania, as a permanent testimony of the flora of Transylvania.
In comparison, Harumi Klossowska de Rola creates exceptional pieces ranging from fine jewellery to sculptural designs representing totemic animal themes and the fauna ecosystem. Throughout her practice, Harumi is exploring the forgotten link between animals and humans. Her creations have a life of their own and are extremely detailed and unique; each is handmade using materials as varied as gold with horns or bronze with woods. Executed by craftsmen using traditional and nearly forgotten techniques, such as “métal repoussé”, her works in “Flora and Fauna” feature varied animalistic shaped objects. For instance Harumi has created a feline cat ring, a lioness bench, dragonflies’ earrings, butterfly earrings, a rhinoceros ring, and a stephanoatue coronatus ring. Hence, the natural world, with its rare and endangered species, is strongly embedded in this exhibition. Harumi Klossowska de Rola’s works have been exhibited and sold across the world and are held in major private collections such as the late Karl Lagerfeld or Oliver Berggruen collection, amongst many others. Harumi has collaboratedwith some of the most well-respected individuals in art, design and fashion, including John Galliano, Giambattista Valli, Valentino, Boucheron and Chopard to name a few.
