"Sweet Symphony": Tufting Exhibition by Claude Como

June 5, 2024

"Sweet Symphony" : Exposition tufting de Claude Como

The exhibition "Sweet Symphony," presented by artist Claude Como, is currently on view at the Palais de l'Europe in Menton until September 21, 2024.

Originally from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, Claude Como currently lives and works in Marseille, giving her work a special dimension, between two worlds, where the search for roots and home is palpable.

Inside the exhibition space, the eye is drawn to 130 wool tufted works spread over 60 linear meters. The artist created these works over a period of four years using a tufting machine, also known as a tufting gun. These pieces evoke contemporary concerns, particularly the increasingly lost paradise. Claude Como describes her creations as "huge comfort objects," evoking a transitional object given to a child in their mother's absence. In this context, she refers to the lack of connection with nature in our society

modern.

A visual artist, Claude Como discovered tufting online in 2019. Since then, she has explored the technique, playing with textures and colors that she frees from the frame, inviting viewers to enjoy a tactile, sensory experience that awakens a greater sense of pleasure. The free, light forms of her works were not chosen at random. They allow the artist to assemble elements with one another, disrupt viewpoints, and alter perspectives and scale (for example, Funky Funguns, small mushrooms depicted in Claude Como's installation, are 3 meters tall). Her organic sculptures, evoking life, reproduction, and regeneration, create an immersive atmosphere reminiscent of a forest or an endless garden in which viewers are invited to lose themselves.

Finally, with "Please Touch," Claude Como offers us an experience beyond conventional boundaries, confirming the vitality, immersion, and freedom inherent in her work. In her assemblages, no limits are visible; she uses cells to compose on walls, creating unique, site-specific installations that combine works to form a complete picture, whose essence varies depending on the location and viewing angle. Some of her works are even arranged so that they can be turned, flipped, or inverted to offer an even more immersive experience.