ABOUT
Jonathän Jouan is a multidisciplinary artist and craftsperson based in Montreal, Canada. Working with wood, metal, and rye straw as his signature materials, he creates sculptural works that merge contemporary art with fine craft traditions.
Through material-based research and aesthetic exploration, his practice investigates the transmission of knowledge, global mythologies, and the hidden relationships between nature and culture. Drawing from both traditional craftsmanship and speculative narratives, his works reveal the invisible threads that connect materials, histories, and collective beliefs across time and place.
BACKGROUND
Starting with studies in History of Art in France, he later moved to Canada, where he was trained in traditional cabinet making over five years. During this period, he also developed, as an autodidact, his practice of straw marquetry, which became his signature material language.
His research then led him to Denmark, where he developed a sequins technique exploring movement and the interaction between material and light, a method now integrated into his Amoebas Realm series.
Artistic Statement
Unseen Threads: The Transmission of Knowledge
A “Spider’s Thread”
Legacy as a System of Transmission
My work revolves around the concept of legacy, with a central question: how do knowledge, wisdom, and cultural narratives survive and traverse time? I seek to reveal the unseen structures that connect existence, tracing how human understanding, myths, and systems of thought persist across generations.
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I explore ancient and contemporary mythologies, folklore, and speculative narratives as evolving frameworks rather than fixed stories. These systems shape how civilizations construct meaning, memory, and belief. My sculptures emerge from this space of transformation, where narratives are not illustrated but translated into material experience.
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Material research is at the core of my practice. Working with rye straw, wood, and metal, I extend traditional craft techniques into sculptural forms where light, texture, and structure interact. This relationship creates a sense of movement within stillness, where each work becomes a vessel for perception and narrative.
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This practice is both cultural and personal. Stories and mythologies have long provided orientation and meaning in moments of uncertainty. Through my work, I seek to return to that legacy: honoring the transmissions that shaped my understanding while creating new vessels for reflection.
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At its core, each object functions as a shell for a story: a container for memory, perception, and meaning beyond its physical presence. In a world defined by speed and consumption, I see craftsmanship as a form of resistance: an act of slowness, attention, and continuity.
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Alongside this research, I construct interconnected speculative worlds such as Amoebas Realm or Yokaï Realm. Each explores different layers of existence; biological, mythological, and cultural; where microorganisms, spirits, rituals, and material systems intersect to form narratives of transformation, control, and evolution. These worlds function as parallel ecosystems through which I examine how life, belief, and matter continuously reshape one another.
Continuity Between Systems
My practice is ultimately an attempt to map the continuity between natural systems and human culture, where every material gesture becomes part of a larger, ongoing process of transformation.