GRAVITAS team sat down with Quentin Garel in his Paris studio to talk about his practice and his latest commission for Jacques Marie Mage in New York. Thank you Cassidy Velmech & Faithfulness Okom for the visit!
Read full interview. Watch trailer.
Résumé
La marque de lunettes de luxe Jacques Marie Mage (JMM), basée à Los Angeles, a posé ses valises sur la côte Est pour dévoiler sa toute première galerie à New York.
Au 140 Wooster Street, ce vaste espace de 2 100 pieds carrés sur plusieurs niveaux devient l’écrin idéal pour les montures les plus désirées de la Maison, sa maroquinerie premium, ses bijoux et ses objets soigneusement sélectionnés, en plein cœur de SoHo.
Imaginés en collaboration avec l’architecte et designer Jacques Garcia, les intérieurs de la galerie affichent un spectaculaire esprit Art décoratif, à mi-chemin entre futurisme urbain et appel de la nature sauvage. Bois exotiques et surfaces précieuses, miroitantes, entourent trois immenses sculptures de crânes d’animaux signées par l’artiste Quentin Garel, évoquant une présence primitive tout en rappelant les racines West Coast de la Maison.
Pour accéder à l’étage, il faut traverser les mâchoires du loup de Garel, une touche ludique et immersive de plus dans cette scénographie artistique. L’ambiance quasi anthropologique se densifie au deuxième niveau — où se déploient les Collections Spéciales, Éditions Spéciales et services sur mesure Made-to-Measure de la marque — dans un mélange sophistiqué et évocateur d’héritage, d’habitat et d’opulence architecturale.
« Les sculptures de Garel acquièrent une forme de noblesse et de fragilité », confie Jérôme Mage, fondateur et directeur de la création de JMM. « Ce sont des objets bruts […] mais, dans ce cadre, ils deviennent presque précieux, comme des parures ou des talismans qui évoquent la nature sauvage, sa vulnérabilité et l’idée de la protéger. »
La galerie JMM New York est désormais ouverte au 140 Wooster.
Quentin Garel’s new monumental sculptures are taking up permanent residence at the heart of the brand-new flagship store of luxury eyewear brand Jacques Marie Mage, located at 140 Wooster Street, in the heart of Soho, New York.
To elevate this exceptional space, French founder Jérôme Mage gave Quentin Garel carte blanche to create an unprecedented artistic dialogue around wildlife. This exclusive commission unfolds across four monumental works designed to inhabit the space: a suspended Eagle Skull, a Bison Skull on the floor, and an imposing Wolf Jaw at the entrance of the staircase, as well as a monumental drawing capturing the vibrant essence of the American wilderness.
An ardent defender of the wild spirit, Jérôme Mage actively supports the preservation of North American wildlife, notably through his strong ties to Yellowstone National Park, where he funds a wolf conservation association. By summoning the iconography of the wolf, the eagle, and the bison—totem animals of these preserved ecosystems—Quentin Garel’s work finds absolute relevance here. His sculptures are not displayed as mere trophies; instead, they restore the animal’s mythological dignity, echoing the house’s commitment to protecting these species.
The flagship is now open to the public (by appointment only thru JMM’s website, due to high demand for visits), for clients and enthusiasts of Jacques Marie Mage.
Asia NOW returned to the Monnaie de Paris for its 11th edition with renewed energy and expanded scope. Under the theme Grow, this year’s edition encouraged viewers to move beyond the East-West binary and consider what it means to come from a place and to be shaped by its culture and history.
What began as Europe’s first fair for Asian contemporary art, Asia NOW has grown from 18 to nearly 70 galleries and broadened its reach from East Asia and West Asia to the Middle East. Guided by the mission of “My East is Your West”, this year’s fair challenged East-West stereotypes, positioning “Asia” less as a fixed geography and more as a methodology – a versatile, and at times insurgent, approach to thinking and creating.
Against this backdrop, we selected ten artists whose practices stood out in October. Their work offers new ways of fostering connection and understanding – discover them below.
Georgian artist Rusudan Khizanishvili (b. 1979) creates vivid, symbol-laden paintings which draw on Georgian iconography, regional history, and folklore. Raised in post-Soviet Georgia and based in Tbilisi, she channels both ancestral memory and the region’s turbulent past into dreamlike, altered realities populated by hybrid figures and chimeric forms. Her compositions echo the theatricality embedded in Georgian culture, animated by an intuitive approach to colour – “brainwaves,” as she describes them – that heightens the mystical and emotional charge of her imagery.
Across her work, Khizanishvili explores cultural memory, the female body, and myth, drawing on archetypes, ecofeminist thought, and an evolving interest in transhumanism. Women appear as protectors, warriors, and shape-shifters, their patterned garments and symbolic armour recalling both ancient goddesses and the legacy of Queen Tamar. These figures reflect the artist’s own experience of growing up with a single mother in a patriarchal society while forging her own independent artistic path. She was represented by LJ Galerie at Asia NOW 2025.
Rithika Merchant is taking part this month in the exhibition Textile Matters. Woven Stories between India and France, organized by the French Embassy in India. Inaugurated this Wednesday at the Galerie des Gobelins/Mobilier National in Paris, this exhibition brings together numerous artists and pieces of craftsmanship and fashion highlighting French-Indian cultural collaboration through textiles. It is on view thru January 4, 2026.
This is an opportunity to see again part of “The Flowers We Grew”, the monumental embroidered installation created by Rithika Merchant in collaboration with the Chanakya School of Craft for the Dior Haute Couture show (January 2025, Musée Rodin), on loan from Dior which owns it.
Exhibition co-produced by the National Manufactories – Sèvres & Mobilier National, the Institut français, and the Embassy of France in India, in collaboration with Shon Randhawa, founder of the Sutrakala Foundation.
📍Mobilier national @Galerie des Gobelins
42 avenue des Gobelins, 75013 Paris, France
(🚇 7, station Gobelins)
From 4 December ’25 to 4 January ’26
Open everyday from 11AM to 6PM
Read more:
https://mobiliernational.culture.gouv.fr/fr/expositions-et-evenements/ce-qui-se-trame-histoires-tissees-entre-linde-et-la-france
Nov 07, 2025 | by Sagarika Choudhary
In a world that often feels divided, Rithika Merchant’s art stands as a bridge—connecting myth and memory, science and speculation, the ancient and the futuristic. With her intricate, dreamlike paintings and installations, Merchant invites us to imagine alternate worlds that are not dystopian, but deeply humane and hopeful.
This year, she has emerged as one of India’s most compelling visual artists on the global stage. Her work, rich in symbolism, layered with meaning, and often hand-painted on paper using natural pigments, explores the universal language of stories. Whether referencing folklore or celestial charts, Merchant’s pieces feel timeless and immediate all at once.
Her recent collaborations have only cemented her position as a creative force. In 2025, she worked with The Chanakya School of Craft to create an installation for Dior’s haute couture show, blending Indian artistry with global couture in a way that felt both intimate and monumental. A year earlier, her work featured at The 11th Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, where her ability to weave mythology with modern consciousness drew international acclaim.
But beyond her growing list of exhibitions and collaborations, what defines Merchant’s journey is her community. In her Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year 2025 acceptance speech, she spoke not of accolades, but of sisterhood—a testament to the kind of artist and woman she is.
“Thanks, Harper’s Bazaar, for this award. It is such a privilege and it’s so incredible to be in this room with so many accomplished women. I have been really lucky in my career to mainly work with other women, and I really feel like I am part of a sisterhood where everyone sort of uplifts and supports each other, and I’m just so grateful for this community of women that surrounds me. So it’s extra nice to get this award, and I’m really grateful. Thank you,” she beamed.
Merchant’s practice often draws from her travels and cultural exchanges, yet it remains deeply personal and Indian at its core. Through her brushstrokes, she reimagines mythology not as something from the past, but as a map to our future—one where humanity, nature, and imagination co-exist in harmony.
As she continues to blur the lines between myth and modernity, Rithika Merchant is not just painting stories; she is painting possibilities.