About the Artist:
Mathieu Josset is a self-taught artist from Paris, France. A lifelong musician and avid music lover, he weaves sounds, rhythms and emotions into vibrant textile narratives with wax, bazin and madras fabrics.
Using techniques ranging from folded patterns to knotted fabrics, he brings movement and texture to his art. This approach, combined with dance and musical performances, reveals a dynamic interplay of form, color, and sound, intensifying the viewer’s sensory engagement. His textile compositions have been exhibited in group shows throughout France, Senegal, Monaco, and Morocco.
In 2021, he was the guest of honor the inaugural event at the International Center for Contemporary Art and Cultures in Dakar. In 2022, during the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art, he participated in a group exhibition at the International Art Market of Dakar.
The following year, he completed an artist residency in Rabat as part of the Caravane Arkane Afrika project and took part in the International Contemporary Art Exhibition at the Bab Rouah Gallery. Also in 2023, he was honored as a guest artist at Dakar Fashion Week, with one of his striking large-scale textile pieces prominently featured at the grand runway venue.
After a first solo show «Vibrations textiles» in November 2024, Mathieu’s second solo exhibition, «ArtBazin Experience», was held at Le Bateau Phare in Paris during June 2025, marking a milestone in his artistic journey.
Artist Statement:
My textile art is an exploration of rhythm, culture, and identity, deeply rooted in the sounds and vibrant colors of African, Jamaican, and Caribbean music that have always surrounded me. Since my youth, I have been fascinated by music’s capacity to evoke intense emotions, leading me to translate these feelings into vivid, contrasting colors within my creations.
Throughout my travels in West Africa, I discovered a visual equivalent to these sounds in the brilliance of traditional fabrics such as wax, bazin, and madras. These materials, rich with profound cultural significance, have continuously enriched my creative process through their diverse uses and customs.
My earliest creations primarily explored the repetition inherent in fabric patterns and color gradients. Particularly inspired by Santiago Montoya’s works, which emphasize repetition and shapes derived from banknotes, I developed a distinctive technique involving meticulously folding fabric strips to create fluid, undulating compositions reminiscent of waves on rigid supports. This approach allowed me to fully leverage the specific properties of textiles: wax and madras offer recurring patterns, while bazin contributes a rich palette of shades.
Through my works, I have also paid tribute to inspiring figures such as Senegalese designer Adama Paris, the iconic Martinican zouk singer Jocelyne Beroard and American model Ebonee Davis, who embraces her natural afro hairstyle as a declaration of identity and a celebration of Black women’s beauty. Their hairstyles, symbols of strength, freedom, and cultural pride, come alive through floating fabric strips in my pieces.
My artistic practice has been enhanced by techniques such as knotting, allowing richer textures and greater visual impact. In my “Grands Visages” series, I explored the interaction between scales and perceptions: hundreds of knotted fabric strips are carefully arranged to compose expressive portraits. Up close, viewers can appreciate the complexity of textures, while from afar, faces distinctly emerge through sharp contrasts between colored and shaded areas, and subtle variations in textile density, particularly around the eyes and
facial contours.
More recently, inspired by Olga de Amaral’s monumental textile artworks and Simon Berger’s explorations of transparency, I have expanded my scope to suspended textile installations on large nets. This approach frees artworks from traditional wall constraints, allowing dynamic interaction with space and the audience.
I now aspire to create more moving, suspended, and immersive textile frescoes.
Simultaneously, I am leading a multidisciplinary audiovisual project called “Vibrations,” blending dance, music, and textile art. This project combines choreographed performances with a soundtrack fusing afrobeats, amapiano, and reggae. I intend to further pursue this artistic direction in Jamaica, Martinique, and Senegal by integrating suspended textiles into the environment and having dancers directly wear my creations, thereby offering unprecedented immersive experiences to the audience.
