Art meets nature in a hidden-away bucolic Montparnasse alley at the Espace Frans Krajcberg. The small exhibition space is Krajcberg’s former Paris art studio. It features work by the artist and temporary exhibitions by other artists dealing with environmental issues.
Frans Krajcberg (1921-2017) was a Polish-Brazilian painter, sculptor, engraver and photographer. Known for using natural elements in his art and his environmental activism, Krajcberg denounced the destruction of the Brazilian forests, using materials such as burnt wood from illegal forest fires in his artworks. His epic, monumental sculptures were made from ‘recovered’ wood from Amazon rainforest fires. The artist said “I look for ways to express my outcry against the destruction of nature. My work is a Manifesto.”
”Espace Frans Krajcberg opened in 2003 to display the artist’s work and as a place for other artists to carry on the artist’s idea that art is essential in the fight for survival of the planet. For Krajcberg, art and nature are inseparable. “I am a man completely tied to nature, of which my survival and my creativity depend on… Nature has given me strength, has given me pleasure to feel, to think, to work. To survive.”
The artist’s work primarily took off in Brazil, where he lived in harmony with the natural world. His epic, monumental sculptures were made from ‘recovered’ wood sourced from the Amazon rainforest forest fires.
Krajcberg (who died at age 96 in 2017) poured his energy into saving the Amazon rainforest. He traveled the globe on a mission to convince world leaders of the urgency of this major ecological issue.
Espace Frans Krajcberg, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Art & Nature, Chemin du Montparnasse, 21, avenue du Maine, 75015 Paris. Free admission.