Orié Noué

Inspired by her observations of the natural world and his multiple forms of life, Orié Inoué expresses and shares, through her drawings, volumes and installations, atmospheres conducive to generating a feeling of wonder for all that composes our Cosmos, from the infinitely small to the infinitely large.
In her compositions that are both sensitive and confusing, the artist testifies to the strength and mysteries of nature and life. She depicts a sensual universe that plunges us into the limbs of the unconscious, referring us to the childhood and reminiscences of her inner worlds, while drawing from the meanders of the supernatural and animist world of her Japanese culture.
Despite her poetic and dreamlike works are also animated by a feeling of concern for the problematic relations between human beings and the living – and planetary disturbances that result -, Orié Inoué will always oppose the hope of perpetual germination of life, Promises of World Enchantment Potential… .

Curriculum Vitae

Born in 1983 in Saitama, Japan, Orié Inoué is a visual artist who lives and works in France, in the preserved environment of the Morvan mountain, where she collects the natural elements, she uses in her artistic work.

After a Master’s in Art and Creation at Joshibi University of Art and Design, she obtained in 2011 the Prix Paris of the Ōmura Foundation, founded by biochemist and Nobel Prize winner of medicine Satoshi Ōmura, giving place to a residency at the Cité internationale des arts de Paris, to deepen her artistic research. She eventually moved to France where she exhibited regularly, as well as across Europe and Japan.

Some of Orié’s latest exhibitions : «Nature-Nature» Galerie Horæ, Paris, FR (2022), «Anthropocene: Paysages au-delà de la croisée», Tsukuba Art Museum, Ibaraki, JP (2022), «Essere Ecosophia», Milan, IT (2021), «Festival d’art contemporain: Parcours de l’art», Cloître Saint Louis, Avignon, FR (2020)

Winner of the 2nd Jury Prize of the Biennale d’art contemporain in Cachan, FR (2021).

Interview
Christian Mayeur: Where does your attraction to nature come from?​
Orié Inoué: I was born in Japan, in a small town close to the countryside, with rice fields, woods, a river, and from where you can see Mount Fuji in the distance. As a child, I liked catching insects, crayfish, small fish and even raising them at home. I also observed clouds, stars, lightning, or micro organisms under a microscope. I liked discovering the living world, the natural world, things you can’t see with the naked eye.​
CM: And the path to art?​
OI: In my family, culture and artistic practice have always been a big part of our lives. I’ve always loved drawing. I often say that I was born to create, so it was natural for me to go to art studies.​
CM: In your artistic practice, do you go back and forth between nature and art?​
OI: When I feel something about nature, that’s what makes me want to create. Nature is not necessarily just beauty, there are also dangers, threats. In Japan, I have experienced natural disasters, the dark side, that makes you feel fear. I try to express the many facets of life. Art is very important for this, because the world is not Manichaean, we cannot categorize nature exclusively in “good” or “bad”. We can’t simplify. Thus, art is a very appropriate approach to share this tension. I’m not good at talking, I’m more comfortable with creating.​
CM: You used the word “wonder”…​
OI: I’ll give you an example: one morning I saw dew on grass, it was so bright, so unexplainable beauty, spider webs with dew too, this poetic feeling, that’s what amazes me…​
CM: I share your feeling, the spider webs that shine with dew, it’s beautiful! 
OI: These little insignificant things that you can notice in nature if you want to pay attention to them, it’s important for me.​
CM: You can see that thin side in your work. One word I noticed in your text is “cosmos”​
OI: When I create drawings, volumes, or installations, I express the world from the infinitely small to the infinitely large. Infinitely small like a cell, molecule, chromosome, neuron, virus… 
Infinitely large as a planet, a meteor, a galaxy, a black hole, the Big Bang… Everything is connected, that’s what interests me.​
CM: Does the word “cosmos” refer to the fact that everything is linked?​
OI: Oh yes! For me, the Universe would form a whole, each part of which would be connected with the others.​
CM: Your coming to France, how did it go?​
OI: At the end of my art studies and at the beginning of my artistic career, I obtained in 2012 the «Joshibi Paris Prize» awarded under the patronage of the «Fumiko Ōmura Foundation». 
This allowed me to spend a year of residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts to continue my artistic research. I’ve been in France ever since.​
CM: And why did you choose to leave Paris for the Morvan, a rather deserted region in the center of France?​
OI: Yes, the Morvan is a very preserved Natural Park, there is no motorway, no hi-speed train (TGV) line, it remained very wild, almost primitive. I meet people who have magnetism powers, who can find underground water springs or cure patients remotely, things I didn’t know. These are mysterious forces but which we may have each in us without necessarily knowing how to use them. That’s part of what we call “the Invisible” and what I’m particularly interested in. It’s very wild, I can easily find materials for my work: seeds, lichens, hay… and inspiration.  
When I lived in the suburbs of Paris, I didn’t find so many sources of inspiration. I am happy to live there, it is for me a place full of wealth. 
CM: Being present in a gallery based in New Mexico, in the high desert of the American West, what does it create in terms of feeling? 
OI: For me it’s a big discovery, a little unexpected. I am very excited about this opportunity to reach a new and even wider audience. It’s very stimulating, it makes me want to evolve my work. 
CM: What place does Japan still occupy in your work? 
OI: Perhaps the animist aspect, coming from the Shinto belief which is the oldest religion in Japan. According to Shinto, all elements of nature are venerated, as well as super natural spirits called kami, who would reside or incarnate in this nature. I lived there until I was 29, I didn’t realize it. It was the decline of France that showed me the animism of Shinto. In my artistic work, I use natural elements in which I feel these kami, it is a bit like if each of these natural plots were endowed with a soul. 
CM: What do you hope to share with the viewer of your works? 
OI: I hope to be able to make one feel this sacredness of the natural, of the living and of what connects us. I try to make people feel that we are an integral part of nature and of the living 
world, that we have a strong and universal link with all other forms of life and therefore also with all other human beings. Deep down, I want my works to spread good waves and why not a feeling of peace… 

  • Orié Inoué - Gemmes 6

  • Orié Inoué - Volte 8

  • Orié Inoué - Myriades 2

  • Orié Inoué - Gemmes 5

  • Orié Inoué - Orbe 4