While he lives in the desert of Mexico in the Nuevo Léon region, next to the city of Monterrey, to work with the local craftsmen, Johan Creten exhaust himself in work exaltation to the point of falling sick. In his bed, he looks at the date palms and their dark flesh grapes through the window. Fruits and infected swollen glands mix up in his imaginary. He sees his body covered with these growths. During a ten-year period, he realized several versions of this hallu- cinated vision in glazed stoneware or bronze.

“Johan Creten works so hard that he exhausts himself, grows weak, falls ill. He must rest, find peace. Urgently. From the bed that serves as his stretcher, he looks through the window at the date palms and their black, juicy fruit. He observes them like he observes the swollen glands that are contaminating his skin at the time and troubling his peace of mind. Dates and abscesses are so similar that the Flemish artist begins to confuse these foreign bodies.

Out of this hallucinatory, fever-induced vision, the sculptor draws a variegated sculpture — Why does Strange Fruit always look so Sweet? — which exists in three versions, in glazed terracotta. One of these, intended for an exhibition at the Bass Museum in Art in 2001, was soon enlarged, in coloured plaster, with the help of Niki de Saint Phalle’s former assistant, then cast in bronze, years later. Conceived in a feverish state, a nightmare, a frenzy, the sculpture brought into this world speaks the language of monsters, those that creep out from under beds, from behind curtains, from out of our heads. Henri Michaux: ‘With simplicity, the imaginary animals grow out of fears and obsessions, and are cast out on the walls of the rooms where no one can see them but their genitor. Illness gives birth, indefatigably, to an incomparable animal creation’. (‘Imaginary Animals’, Plume, 1938). The Injuries of Beauty.”

- Colin Lemoine, extract from “Strange Fruit”, Transit Gallery editions, 2015, Text by Kurt Van Eeghem and Colin Lemoine.

The metamorphosis of desire

“Borrowing its title from a song by Billie Holiday (Strange Fruit, 1939) this work by Johan Creten evokes the escaped life and urges the abolition of slavery. It is therefore about emancipation, freedom and liberation, about struggles to be fought and weapons to be gathered.

But the sculpture also expresses the ambiguous appeal of the fruit, of a forbidden fruit condemned by morality and books, by the Book. Sin, like pleasure’s shadow, the flip side of the coin. To desire is to damn oneself. And if the body mushrooms, it is because evil and desire literally make us itch.”

- Colin Lemoine, extract from “Strange Fruit”, Transit Gallery editions, 2015, Text by Kurt Van Eeghem and Colin Lemoine.

The first 3 versions in fired clay were hand-build and glazed by the artist at the Artesanarte workplace in Villa de García, Monterrey. The clay was of a local low firing type and the glazes were normally used in local tile production.

During the time Johan Creten lived in Miami he worked at the “White Studio” in the Design District. He had brought one of the clay pieces with him from Mexico. A mould was taken of this clay original before the sculpture entered the collection of the Bass Museum of Art, and one plaster cast was taken and used for a bronze edition (see large versions).

This model was then used to build a monumental version in painted plaster with the help of Olivier Haligon. The model and moulds were shipped to Belgium to make a resin model using clay powder and pigment to see how it would look as a large bronze and to be used as a reference during the casting process. Full-sized wax models were cast in the mould to be used for the lost wax casting process and the large sculptures were cast at the Art Casting foundry. Gilding was done by Maison Gohard Paris.

During his stay in Miami Johan Creten got in touch with the Bronzart Foundry in Sarasota, Florida and started working on a one-meter-high cast in bronze. Each cast has a different patina. After his return to Paris, the later casts were made at Art Casting Oudenaarde in Belgium. This explains why one will find different foundry stamps on the casts. Several of the pieces were partially gilded, some using gold leaf others by electro- gilding.

More then 15 years after modeling Strange Fruit Johan Creten wanted to make a small ‘Library’ version, a sculpture that would be at home in a intimate domestic setting. Each sculpture has a different patina. These patinas are fragile and so the sculptures should be kept indoors. After finishing the last edition the moulds were all destroyed.

2024
. Jouer avec le feu , Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans, Orléans, France.
. Les Fabriques ou la rage des utopies , Domaine de la Garenne Lemot, Clisson, France.

2023
. De Eerste parade , Knokke-Heist, Belgium.

2022
. Why does Strange Fruit always look so Sweet? , Skulptur i Pilane, Klövedal, Sweden.

2021
. Les Extatiques , La Défense, Fance.
. Perrotin Matignon, Paris, France

2016-2017
. De Nature en Sculpture , Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France.
. Jardins , Grand Palais, Paris, France.
. La Traversée / The Crossing , CRAC (Regional Contemporary Art Center) OCCITANIE / Pyrénées-Méditerranée), Sète, France.

2015
. Vormidable, contemporary Flemish sculpture , Museum Beelden aan Zee, Schveningen, The Netherlands.
· The Nature of Clay , The Monaco Project for the Arts 2015, École Supérieure d’Arts Plastiques, Pavillon Bosio and Exotic Garden of Monaco, France.
· Art Brussels , Galerie Transit, Brussels, Belgium.

2014
· The Storm , Middelheimmuseum Museum, Antwerp, Belgium.

2012-2013
· Fire-Works , Museum Dhondt- Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium.

2011
· FIAC 2011 , Galerie Perrotin, Grand Palais, Paris, France.

2010
· Et si la guirlande de Julie était en laine..., Château de Rambouillet, Rambouillet, France.
· Higher Powers Command , Group Lhoist, Limelette, Belgium.
. Who’s Afraid of the Museum? , Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen, Belgium.
· Wijheizijweihij , Kingsmill, Eiksem, Landen, Belgium.
· Beyond Limits. Sotheby’s at Chatsworth : a selling exhibition, Chatsworth Castle, Bakewell, United Kingdom.
· Passion Fruits picked from the Olbricht Collection , Me Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany.

2008
· Johan Creten, sculptures , Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France.
. La Femmina , Musée Archéologique, Lattes, France.

2007
. Johan Creten. Tour des Forces , Musée royal de Mariemont, Morlanwelz, Belgium.

2004
· Miami Dreams , De Garage, Mechelen, Belgium.
· Because the Earth is 1/3 Dirt , CU Art Museum, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

2003
· Art Brussels , Galerie Transit, Brussels, Belgium.
· Johan Creten sculptures , Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, USA.
· Johan Creten, J.Johnson Gallery , Jacksonville Beach, USA.
· Johan Creten , Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA.

2002
· Amigos , New World Arts Building, Miami, USA.
· Free Lemonade , Robert Miller Gallery, New York, USA.

1999
· Johan Creten, sculptures , Casa del Obispado, Villa de García, Monterrey, Mexico.