“I have two studios, and the two geographies are very important,” said Joël Andrianomearisoa. One is located in Antananarivo, Madagascar—where the artist grew up—and the other is in Paris. Andrianomearisoa is a big believer in artistic versatility, having made his mark everywhere from international exhibitions with fashion brand Dior, to collaborations with high-end scent brand Diptyque, to showing his work at Madagascar’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019.
Now, in a new forthcoming show—his first solo at a commercial gallery in the United States—Andrianomearisoa is bringing his elegant, spare artworks to wider audiences. Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, “Miracle” (at Almine Rech’s Upper East Side space in New York, on view through April 19th) is conceived as a tribute to the craftspeople who manifest his ideas. He’s excited to show “something sophisticated, handmade” in the big city. The exhibition is divided into three parts but champions one medium: raffia, from Madagascar. He decided to “challenge” the material by cutting, rearranging, knotting, or embroidering.
Artworks in the show include clusters of raffia-sculpted flowers languishing off one canvas and raffia words on canvas—spelling out “ALPHABET OF OUR DESIRES”—in another. Another, HANDS, FIGURES AND MIRACLE ACT I (2025), is a contemplative landscape-like cascade of raffia strips in beige and black. These works all highlight this beloved natural material and highlight the work of the technicians who manipulate it so expertly.
The show is part of a wider moment for the artist, who has a simultaneous show of minimalist black-marked canvases at Sabrina Amrani in Madrid. Moreover, his work will soon be displayed elsewhere in New York on the Upper East Side: in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, within the new African Art wing, opening in late May. The large textile work, three meters by two meters, stems from a series started five years ago, “La chanson de ma terre lointaine.” Its neighbor will be a piece by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui.
Andrianomearisoa heads to the studio in the late morning. His Paris space, in the 14th arrondissement, is near the Institut Giacometti and the Cimetière du Montparnasse (where Marguerite Duras, Charles Baudelaire, and Serge Gainsbourg are buried). He works with a team of eight people; they all gather around a large table where they discuss, organize ideas, and eat together. “The studios are like houses,” he said—a conception that is unsurprising, given that Andrianomearisoa studied at the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris.
He’s referring not just to architecture, but fashion, too. His relationship to craftsmanship is integral to his practice in the way haute couture silhouettes require specialized skills and many hours of painstaking work. He is taken by the idea that in one maison, thousands of participating hands and minds are working across a wide spectrum, “but they are thinking about one statement.”
In fact, he’s seen the reality of a maison de couture up close, having been selected to create a signature Lady Dior bag. He was wowed by the speed and rigor of luxury production standards: “On the art scene, sometimes it takes years—like, centuries—to produce something, or to organize a show. With Dior, it’s very fast…they know how to work on it. It’s absolutely fascinating how they can create something new in a day,” he said.
The artist, whose work is included in a current Dior exhibition in Riyadh with another in the works for the end of the year in Tokyo, is presently a brand ambassador for Dior. It’s not the only brand he’s worked with. Andrianomearisoa also collaborated with candle and perfume brand Diptyque on the group exhibition “Le Grand Tour,” for the French perfumer’s 60th anniversary in 2021, as well as on a sculptural installation with them for Paris+ par Art Basel in 2023. (“It was really a booth. Not just a name plus a name.”)
In addition to his personal practice, Andrianomearisoa is also artistic director of a space he founded, Hakanto Contemporary. The 300-square-meter space, inaugurated in 2020, has hosted both group shows and solo shows of overlooked native Malagasy artists like Dany Be or Ramily. “We’re not following trends. We are following our moods and what we appreciate,” Andrianomearisoa said. In September, Hakanto Contemporary graduated to a 3,000-square-meter space, a former warehouse Andrianomearisoa redesigned himself, that will be able to accommodate large installations. Next year, he plans on opening an exhibition juxtaposing craftsmanship and art.
There are things he wishes people knew about Madagascar, and the art world there. “It would be nice if people could stop thinking that Madagascar is just an island with monkeys and palm trees,” he said. “We have our economy, also our art history. We have to go beyond this idea of the exotic.” He wants the country to be regarded as more than just a vacation spot. “It’s like if I’m telling you that Paris is a baguette,” he reasoned. “It’s just not true.”
