Laurent Martin Lo
France, 1955
About
France, 1955
Born in France, he trained as a visual artist in ENSAD (Paris). For many years he worked as creative director both in advertising and fashion. His first encounter with bamboo was totally circumstantial but it was “love at first sight”, the artist says. Bamboo became his obsession, really a passion, that drove the artist to change his life. He left behind his work, house, city…to set up on his first trip to the bamboo countries. Since then he has been traveling long roads in search of the essence of bamboo. Roads which have taken him all over the world to countries that are in what the artist calls “the bamboo belt”…an imaginary terrestrial parallel running around the tropics which, thanks to bamboo, unites far-flung peoples and connects, from Americas to Asia, diverse cultures.
He travelled to remote areas of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam where for many communities the bamboo is still the main resource. Living with them, Laurent learnt the craftsmanship and different uses of bamboo. He also discovered the emotionality and millenary tradition of bamboo as well as its sensuality and spirituality. When he travelled to Central and South America, he followed the work of architects and engineers who used bamboo’s natural properties, flexibility and hardiness, mixed with contemporary techniques and materials. The Indonesian trip meant the integration of bamboo ́s emotional charges, the creativity and the architectural dimensions by discovering the fusion of traditional techniques with contemporary architecture.
Lo’s creative process has been mainly an evolution process. His creativity lies within his deep knowledge and understanding of bamboo. His artistic palette is within the physical and sensorial virtues of bamboo: its very sophisticated organic structure, but also its energy as well as its spirituality. Establishing an intimate dialogue with bamboo, Laurent experiments its flexibility, resistance, density, lightness, mathematics and poetry. A language that allows him to combine both tension and compression, creating sculptures based on movement and balance.
His bamboo structures swing, drawing curves and harmony in the air. With his subtle yet strong gestures, tensions and counterweights, the artist tells us about a fragile harmony that is achieved using opposites: flexibility and strength, fullness and void, light and shadow, movement and quietness. “Lo” invites the spectator to begin a personal dialogue with him/herself looking for calm, serenity and balance in nature.
Mercedes Durban Monreal
Art consultant
CV
AWARDS
Finalist prize of sculptors, Vila Casas Foundation, Palafrugell, Spain (2012)
Finalist prize of sculptors, Vila Casas Foundation. Palafrugell. Spain (2009)
EXHIBITIONS
Holly Circles, Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain (2022)
Cadaqués Soul, Galería Patrick Domken, Cadaqués, Girona, Spain (2022)
Bamboo spaces, Sa Pleta Freda Gallery, Mallorca, Spain (2022)
Museu Can Mario, Girona, Spain (2022)
Dialogue, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2021)
Bamboo Swing, Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain (2021)
Crossing the void, Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong (2021)
Territorios compartidos, Mexico City, Mexico (2021)
Solo Exhibition, Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain (2020)
Visions in motion, Puerta roja, Hong Kong (2019)
Reflections, Puerta Roja, Hong Kong (2018)
Variations, Art’Loft, Brussels, Belgium (2018)
Zhu Qi, Puerta Roja, Hong Kong (2018)
Vents, Galeria Patrick Domken Cadaqués, Spain (2017)
Collectors Cabinet, Puerta Roja, Hong Kong (2017)
Bamboo Trace, Contemporary International Bamboo Art & Craft, National Taiwan Crafts (2017)
Development Institute, Taipei, Taiwan (2017)
Intangible Space, Puerta Roja, Hong Kong (2016)
Sur les Chemins du Bambou, Sculpture Museum Can Mario, Spain (2016)
Bamboo Sculptor 2005-2015, Espai Volart. Fundació Vila Casas, Barcelona, Spain (2015)
Art Elysees Fair. Miquel Alzueta Gallery, Paris, France (2015)
Taboo Bamboo, Patrick Domken Gallery, Cadaqués, Spain (2015)
10 Years with the Energy of Bamboo, Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2015)
HCH Gallery, The Hague, The Netherlands (2015)
Record’Art Cadaqués, Galería Patrick Domken, Cadaqués, Spain (2014)
Bamboo Sail, Galeria Casavells, Girona, Spain (2014)
Bamboo Energy, Ars et Scientia, Centro Médico Teknon, Barcelona, Spain (2013)
Inside Bamboo, Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain (2013)
Movement and Space, Marges-U, Cadaqués, Spain (2013)
Appertizers of Art, HCH Gallery, The Hague, The Netherlands (2013)
One Bamboo Show, Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain (2012)
Bamboo Spheres, Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2012)
Bamboo Spheres, Ingracia Space, Barcelona, Spain (2012)
Organic Geometry, Aina Nowack Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2011)
The Soul of Wind, Tramuntan’art, Port de la Selva, Spain (2011)
Bamboo Mind, HCH Gallery, The Hague, The Netherlands (2010)
Galaxy, Impar Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil (2010)
Inside Bamboo, Àmbit Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2010)
Bamboo Dreams, Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2010)
Alphabet of Wind, Galería Pilar Riberaygua, Andorra (2010)
Bamboo Spirit, K Space, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain (2010)
Dream with Woman and Boat, Ruta de l’Art, Castelló d’Empúries, Spain (2010)
Form and Colour, N2 Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2009)
The Route of Art, Castelló d’Empúries, Spain (2009)
The Dead Nature, Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2009)
At the Edge of the Wind, Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2008)
Body Bamboo, Ctartica Gallery, Torino, Italy (2008)
Bamboo Wind, N3 Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2007)
Bamboo Space, N2 Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2007)
Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2007)
Galería Juan Planellas, Tossa de Mar, Spain (2007)
Bamboo Gove, Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2006)
Large Formats, Galería Ignacio de Lassaletta, Barcelona, Spain (2006)
Bamboo Art Work Km7 Gallery, Girona, Spain (2005)
Small Formats, Galería Ignacio de Lassaletta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2005)
SELECTED ART FAIRS
Art Central Hong Kong (2019)
KIAF, Seoul, South Korea (2018)
Art Central, Hong Kong (2018)
Art Paris, France (2018)
Art Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan (2017)
KIAF, Seoul, South Korea (2017)
Art Stage Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia (2017)
KIAF, Seoul, South Korea (2016)
ART MADRID Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid, Spain (2015)
EURANTICA Brussels Fine Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium (2015)
PINTA London Art Fair, London, UK (2014)
Breda Art Fair, Breda, Netherlands (2014)
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Fundació Vila Casas, Bacelona, Spain
Museo Can Mario, Palafrugell, Spain
Fundación Daurella, Barcelona, Spain
Fundación Daurella, Girona, Spain
Maison Particuliere, Brussels
Living collections, William Lim, Hong kong
Koo House Museum of Art and Design Collection, Seoul, South Korea
Kai Yin Lo Collection, Hong Kong
Sun-Jet Collection, Vicky Liang, Taiwan
