Mobilier Futuriste: Francois Cante-Pacos

When meeting François Cante-Pacos’s protean work for the very first time, one cannot remain indifferent. Indeed, there is no denying the profound and lasting impact of all the artist’s works: his wide and somewhat melancholy canvasses on which multiple strata are superimposed as well as his furniture with futuristic overtones. His jewellery cabinets resemble the artist. They express a lot with very little, they strike one’s imagination and eyes with few means, as Morandi’s paintings or Brancusi’s sculptures do. Their sobriety coupled with the technical challenge are the hallmark of a great artist. It is this efficiency of the line which led him to something quite rare: style. And such skill had not been lost on the expert eye – if any – of Pierre Cardin who he was to collaborate with in the 1970s. The master had immediately discerned his promising talent at the Europlastique exhibition in 1970 for which he had developed an innovative technique, half way between engraving and sculpture, thanks to which he created the very first plastic poster, already recognizable by the spatial and organic style of free shapes that he would develop later on. Thus, following the example of the French creators of the seventies, from Klein to Arman, César, Fahri, Rougemont, Pergay or Calka, François Cante-Pacos made his own contribution to the development of plastic in art.