OK here’s a style warning – all that follows has the seriously (no cliche intended) WOW! factor. Erwan Boulloud is the French-based artist and wizard behind these surreal, lush and off-the-wall pieces of art – like his ‘Syngenisique’ 2016 closet/artwork, pictured above (open) and below (closed).  The deep red innards look like the tantalizing peak of a Louboutin sole. Shelves undulate, their organic curves just glorious and well, sexy.

Sometimes furniture and sculpture meet – and this time it’s tempting to miss the functionality completely. Though yes – your sight is not deceiving you, it’s a clothes cupboard – though not quite a wardrobe, as there’s no hanging space. Admittedly a high-end, luxe and glamorous closet that is the stuff of fairytale. This is less “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” and more “Alice in Wonderland.” The open door looks like a discarded ballgown, the gold ‘shard’ at the top of the door looks like the pointer on a sun dial. It’s bewitching.

As if dropped from a great height, shattering the table beneath – Boulloud’s ‘Fracture Cosmique’ – or Cosmic Fracture –  has a rock in the middle. The natural rings of the tree trunk from which the table has been carved create dynamic movement, like the waves of a  thrashing sea or the expanding tremors of an earthquake.

Luxurious yet decadent, this is not just any old table – the sculpture tackles the notion of fate and inevitability, cosmic events beyond our control. It also looks amazing!  A fabulous focal point in any room.

Seems that a cement block just fell on a chest of drawers. Whoops! Although, you can still open the drawers, and it looks kind of wonderful. Ah OK – it’s another Erwan Boulloud masterpiece – furniture meets disaster in a marriage made in Heaven – or should that be the other place?

Crash! The ‘weight’ of a metal safe has ‘crushed’ the set of drawers, which have been skilfully sculpted to ‘crumple’ on impact.

The AA+ Sculpture.

This time it looks like the safe just landed on a beautiful sideboard. Boulloud creates one-off pieces or limited numbered series that form a narrative:

”Beyond its aesthetic success, I feel a work of art is successful in its ability to generate a lineage, this is to me the testimony of its profundity.” – Erwan Boulloud

Graduating from the Ecole Boulle in 1995,  Boulloud went on to set up a workshop in Paris in 2003. He now has his base in Pantin, France. His bespoke work can be purchased – at a price (on application). This is art, not just lounge furniture.

Les Foudroyes Sculpture.

It’s a storm in a suitcase.

Well we all put our luggage on top of wardrobes or tall pieces of furniture! Storage doesn’t come much crazier than this – Boulloud’s ‘Les Foudroyes’ (The Storm) set-of-drawers looks like your luggage just got burnt onto the top of your storage cabinet. A freak flash of lightning perhaps?

 

Grande Volute Cuivree Sculpture.

‘Grande Volute Cuivree’ – roughly translates as a big, coppery (or burnished) scroll, or curl. It’s big, it’s brash and it’s beautiful – just like all of Erwan Boulloud’s startling, irreverent and surreal artworks.