French artist Théo Mercier is known for assembling unusual sculptural environments from collected natural and found objects, a practice central to his current and upcoming exhibitions. His work "La possession du monde n’est pas ma priorité" ("I don’t want to own the world"), featured at Pompidou Metz in eastern France, showcases meticulously arranged small rocks, corals, seaweeds, and ocean plants rendered in resin typically used for aquariums and terrariums. Mercier describes these elements as “ghosts of nature,” reflecting his interest in ephemerality and accumulation.
Mercier’s Paris studio in the 20th arrondissement serves as a creative archive filled with eclectic items gathered through his continuous foraging. The space contains stones, old foot molds, shells, plastic chairs, medieval-style artifacts, and folk art, as well as striking pieces such as a boulder wrapped in Shibari bondage and a polished metal skull positioned as though awaiting a symbolic role. At the studio’s center, about 15 large totems await transport to the exhibition space of the Reiffers Initiatives Foundation in Rue des Acacias, Paris, an area renowned for fashion and photography’s luminaries including Richard Avedon and Guy Bourdin.
The Reiffers Initiatives Foundation, established by Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers and his communications group Mazarine, has run since 2021 a mentorship program pairing internationally recognized artists with emerging French practitioners. This year, British artist Thomas Houseago, based in Los Angeles, exhibits on a floor parallel to Mercier’s show during the Art Basel Paris fair. Despite their age difference—Houseago is 54 and Mercier 42—the two share a collegial relationship described by Houseago as a “studio dialogue” rather than a traditional mentor-mentee dynamic.
Mercier gained early acclaim in 2010 with a large-scale sculpture titled “Le Solitaire,” a reinterpretation of Rodin’s “The Thinker” crafted from spaghetti. The provocative piece generated significant attention at the FIAC art fair, but Mercier noted that rapid early exposure in France often leads to a lull. To foster longevity in his career, he spent time in Mexico collecting stones, an experience he credits with broadening his practice.
The pieces destined for his upcoming shows blend elements sourced globally from France, Mexico, and Sicily. Mercier, trained originally as an industrial designer, arranges these diverse materials—such as terracotta vases, rusted balls, and shell-encrusted pink granite heads—into compositions emphasizing elementary graphic forms like cubes and spheres. His approach aims to evoke a layered narrative that transcends locality, exploring notions of value and cultural systems.
Reiffers, who is also an active collector of Houseago’s work, views the mentorship program as a vehicle to connect French artists with international audiences and to provide them with distinctive opportunities. Beyond scale and visibility, the program encourages Mercier to produce work on a more intimate, domestic scale.
In addition to sculpture, Mercier has created performance art and ephemeral installations over the past decade. His ongoing “Outremonde” series employs compressed sand to build transient landscapes featuring dogs, shells, and car parts, serving as sets for live performances. These projects intentionally avoid permanence, emphasizing local materials and sustainable production practices. His 2024 performance "Skinless," premiered at Paris’s Festival d’Automne, used discarded cardboard and plastic to stage two latex-clad figures symbolizing a hopeful new beginning amid dystopian themes.
Looking ahead, Mercier is preparing a new project inside a single-story annex of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, historically recreated as Constantin Brâncuși’s studio. Although the main Pompidou building remains closed for renovations until 2030, Mercier will occupy this annex from June, repurposing interior elements—pipes, flooring, lighting designed by Renzo Piano, and signage—that will be removed during the refurbishment. By integrating these architectural fragments, the installation reflects both the museum’s transformative legacy since its 1977 opening and Mercier’s ongoing exploration of collecting and recontextualization.
Mercier’s and Houseago’s exhibitions will run from October 23 to December 12 at the Reiffers Initiatives Foundation, contributing to Paris’s vibrant contemporary art scene and the international dialogue fostered by the mentorship program.