The chant of muses can be heard in the distance. 

At first, Baptiste Ozenne’s life was driven by music. As time went by and as he was initiated, contemporary art became part of
the poetic dance that will echo in his world. Rather than being a simple matter of acquisition, the life of a collector can become, to quote the poet Arthur Davison Ficke, « one of the most humanistic endeavors seeking to portray through joining significant relics the human spirit’s march in its quest for beauty ». 
Initially an art dealer and collector, Baptiste Ozenne trusts his gut and follows his instinct. Projects arise from his travels and encoun- ters which reflect his humanist values. His first collaboration with the Strouk Gallery dates back from 2016. This year, by invitation from the gallery, he conducts as a curator by sharing his vision of art through a selection of contemporary artists discovered during his stopovers. Literally, « Door of the Sun », Inti-Punku is the most important entrance gate to the Inca city. At every summer solstice, the sunrays shine through its enclosures. It is also, of course, the symbol of a threshold and of one’s renewal, as of the Strouk Gallery’s changes. The opening of its new space on rue du Mail foretells its metamorphosis. 

As it is a process, any passage is a here and a there at the same time, a parting as well as a meeting. Driven by the will to join the contemporary narrative, the gallery supports the blossoming of a different approach to the world that will shape visions in the future. By taking this step and regularly inviting a new curator, Strouk, in its role as a transmitter, is just about to give us a sensitive and renewed vision of the contemporary art scene. 

The exhibition presented, as Baptiste Ozenne’s personality, is transcultural, multifaceted and sensitive. Despite the importance of cultural and economic gaps in the world, forms and ideas still travel. Visual, cultural and spiritual references now spread eve- rywhere at all times. This new crossbreeding of the territory brings the first chapter « Inti-Punku » to life, of which the language, as we will see, remains universal. 

As the exhibition weaves, we shall pull its first thread. 

In this dreamed city, the exhibition space is organized according to the origin of its residents, the artists. The African territory opens the show at 2 avenue Matignon with Gideon Appah, Igwe Michael and Simphiwe Ndzube. The bodies face us. A swarm of magic spreads across the city. The tiger and the snake invite us to follow them to portray Australia, in the person of Jordy Kerwick. Along the way, a cartoonish world inspired by pop art forms a fantasy world, Austin Lee and Austyn Taylor’s America. 

Further down the road, we are taken to the Asian continent (with Takeru Amano, Roby Dwi Antono, Vivi Cho, Jang Koal, Otani Workshop) and its kawaii visions, almost naive, of characters that seem to have come straight out of a manga. 

Some holy songs arise from these coexistences as the duo formed for the event with Marcella Barceló and Vincent Beaurin. 

Let’s pursue this journey around the world with Mamali Shafahi representing Iran in the 5 rue du Mail space. The rows of faces of Norwegian artist Trude Viken open the curtain of intimacy in the manner of a family album. The pieces by Englishman Alexander James and Ukrainian Dzvinya Podlyashetska resonate with each other: they invite us in a colorful interiority, a kind of modern expressionism. 

The Andalusian light by Javier Martin guides us to the French artists’ district (Léo Caillard, Olivier Kosta-Théfaine, Prosper Legault, Anita Molinero, Lou Ros, Julien Saudubray), all of whom are singular in their practices, questioning nature, the image, matter or the city. 

As the poet Pierre Reverdy, one can say that art, like poetry « is intelligible to the mind and sensitive to the heart only in the form of a certain combination of words » (...). In this case, the combination involves the presence of singular works, different (the scenography) 
« which in fixing themselves assert a particular reality that makes art incomparable to any other ». 

Any journey has a beginning and an end. In this imaginary museum, a taste for colors arises, for a figuration that evokes mythologies, ecology and the bond between creatures. 

By Elise Roche 

Curator : Baptiste Ozenne