– Italian version on page 2 –
Coco Brun embodies many facets, much like her work. Multidisciplinary artist born in Brittany, Coco is a tireless traveler (her field research spanning Italy, Mexico, and Indonesia) and deeply passionate about nature, constantly exploring new inspirations, ideas, references, and techniques.
She can also be described as a refined researcher and anthropologist, collecting the memory of places through scents, pigments, and botanical fragments. Her work involves ongoing collaboration with professionals connected to craftsmanship, including chemists and figures from the olfactory field, among others.
Through the study of traces and vestiges, I explore the beauty of a territory’s decline. Rather than illustrating environmental crises directly, I seek to create spaces where wonder and disquiet coexist, probing the tensions of our contemporary condition. I am deeply grateful to these artisans and the institutions whose support makes this work possible.
Her project Mineralis – Abstraction. Colonization. Inversion. examines extractive sites as altered geological systems, suggesting the need to rethink our relationship with extraction, starting from the premise that minerals are now scarce. It explores the tension between industrial degradation and crystalline regeneration.
Coco’s works stem from this very observation: the use of abandoned or recycled materials resulting from mining exploitation, such as aluminum, brass, and obsidian. This is not restoration, but rather an effort to highlight the tension between decay and regeneration.
From this emerge her sculptures, which possess a refined and essential quality. A brass cylinder conveys the weight of the material, while crystalline formations developing around it bring a luminous dimension to the piece.
What was once extracted becomes a surface for regeneration.
The space is minimalist, almost lunar, where materials are revealed in a diaphanous light that enhances the sensation of being, perhaps, on another planet.
An informative sheet present in all her projects, illustrates the different stages of the process:
Materials & Processes
Stratification: Multi-layer engraving on aluminum evoking geological sediments.
Geological resonances: Crystal growth on recycled industrial metals.
Silvering: A 19th-century silvering technique applied to raw obsidian.
Piedra y Cristal: Blown glass fused onto rock and crystals through thermal shock.
In Exotic Exodus – Displacement. Adaptation. Survival., a project conceived and partly developed during residencies in Sumba and Mexico, she explores the forced displacement of species in the context of globalization and climate change.
Material research is central: animal fibers such as silk and wool, luxury textile waste, and natural dyes. Glass cocoons encapsulate metallic and textile threads; engraved skins reproduce the wing patterns of extinct species; hybrid exoskeletons reconstruct insects that no longer exist.
The aim is not to illustrate nature, but to bear witness to uprooting and forced adaptation.
These works are striking for their tones, color gradients, and meticulous execution: brushstrokes of color that create rich and unexpected nuances.
Landscape Memories develops a sensitive archival approach to transforming landscapes, analyzing the gradual disappearance of territories in the Anthropocene.
The project is based on photographic and painterly surveys carried out during residencies, translated into sculptures, reliefs, and embroidery. Hollow forms retain olfactory imprints beneath glass; mineral frames and textile surfaces materialize layers and erosion.
Additional images highlight Coco Brun’s creativity, always rooted in deep research. We see her at work creating true works of art: strokes of multicolored threads come together to form tapestries that reflect the long process of study behind her intricate pieces.
After graduating in Fine Arts and Applied Arts in Paris, Coco Brun defined her style “a kaleidoscope of interests spanning art, traditional craftsmanship, and digital technology” also shaped by her extensive travels, particularly in Mexico, Indonesia, and Italy, where she participated in workshops and artist residencies.
She has collaborated with numerous artisans and artists, refining her practice, received commissions, and exhibited her work (including limited editions for galleries and luxury brands) in various group exhibitions and biennials across Europe and Latin America, from the Palais de Tokyo to Milan Design Week and art fairs in Mexico City.
