Human Roots by Mickael Obrénovitch brings the wonder of wood to Macau, in an exhibition that open our eyes to the beauty of nature, and communicating a message that we would do well to open our minds, as well as our eyes
Mickael Obrénovitch lives and breathes his passion for wood, and his latest work, Human Roots, on display in Macau as part of Le French May festivities, is testimony to that. The collection, made up of centuries-old teak tree roots found on Java Island, has been a labour of love that has taken the artist and his team three years to complete.
“Wood has been my medium for the past ten years,” Obrénovitch, who was born in France, explains. “I studied applied arts and I used to be more orientated to design. Design and sculpture are very close, in different ways, but I really love art. The absolute meaning of art is very pure.”
The pursuit of a life more in sync with his mindset, saw Obrénovitch leave his career working for renowned advertising agencies in France, for the island of La Réunion, where he seems to have found his balance, reconciling his passion for sculpture with his work in digital communication.
However, it was a trip to another island three years ago that brought the artist to the focal point and body of work he is presenting in Macau now. After eight years in La Réunion, Obrénovitch went on holiday to Bali, a trip that turned into a longer term venture, as the artist has been there for the past three years.
“I have something with islands. I end up on islands. That’s my destiny,” he notes.
The unique wood culture of Bali caught Obrénovitch at the right time and right place.
“I fell in love with Ubud, because it’s a lot about wood carving. There are not many places in the world that are like that, actually it may be the only one. Everything is about the wood, the culture of the wood. They have materials, and the workers are just amazing, very nice people and culture.”
After a series of serendipitous connections, Obrénovitch found himself with a mountain of old teak wood, a studio space and a team of workers, provided by the Balinese family who adopted the foreigner upon his arrival. The world-renowned wood carving Village of Mas became the centre of his universe during the process of bringing Human Roots to life.
Human Roots has been exhibited in Bali on four occasions, most famously at the world renowned COMO Shambhala Estate, where a specially designed piece for the spa area was on show, along with the rest of the artwork, for six months.
Describing the process of working the wood to completion, the Frenchman is quick to admit that it’s no picnic.
“It’s hard work, physically and mentally, and I have people working with me. I could not do it on my own, I would die for sure,” he laughs. “It’s 35 degrees in Bali and there is no aircon in the studio, no fans, and a lot of dust everywhere. We worked on all the sculptures at the same time, because of the light and the inspiration. The team you are working with all influence the process. They gave me ideas at times.”
The respect for his cherished material is palpable at all stages of the process.
“All the pieces came from the same area, in Java. You can see from the wood, they probably came from the same forest. But it is difficult to trace. The climate in Bali is very aggressive. The sun and the humidity give character to the wood. You can see the life of the wood and what has happened to it. It is like a forest, every tree is different, but it is part of the forest.”
Mas Village also proved to be the ideal location for the spiritual process the artist embarks on when working, the wish to “pass on his personal vision of the meaning of life, his quest for the absolute, and his place in the infinite.”
However, working in a traditional village in Bali is not without its challenges.
“You cannot do what you want. You think you are free to do what you want, but you cannot choose your workers. The family has to choose for you. And you don’t choose when you have your workers; if you have to wait for one month because they have other commitments, you cannot say anything. You have to respect everything. That’s what I learned in Bali. You have to be patient, and to let it go. It was so hard.”
But let go he did, and the artist is eager to share his work and vision further afield.
“The purpose of my work is to find a discussion with the wood, to express the material of the wood, and to reach the absolute infinity. I’m agnostic but I trust the mystery of life. We don’t know where we come from, where we are going, all we have is the now, we can only enjoy the moment,” comments the artist.
“The same with my work, this wood is around 200 years old and it was here before us, and it will be here after us. It needs less oxygen than we do, and it creates oxygen for us to live. And that’s the problem; we kill the materials that give us the opportunity to live. I try to sensitize people to this. It’s a circle of life and we are trying to break it now, we try to control it. And that is just an illusion.”
Bringing his work to a place like Macau is very important to Obrénovitch as “people here seem very far removed from nature and the source of so many everyday things. Part of my approach is to include fundraising to highlight awareness, and I am now currently working on a label to save Indonesian forests. Indonesia has the biggest forest in the world after the Amazon, and the problem is huge. There is enormous destruction going on.”
The medium is the message for Mickael Obrénovitch. Currently working on a new body of work for one of Mauritius’ best hotels, the artist is continuing on his trajectory of islands, wood and opening our eyes to the beauty that surrounds us. And our duty to protect it.
Human Roots
Venue: Iao Hin Gallery
Dates: April 22 to June 30
Opening Hours: 11am – 7pm
For more details about this year’s Le French May go to www.frenchmay.com
