m.simons is pleased to announce La Cosa Interiore, an exhibition of new work by Hadrien Gerenton, on view at Lijnbaansgracht 318 from April 17 through May 17, 2025.
In this new body of work, Gerenton furthers his engagement with botanical forms, presenting a series of sculptures and functional objects that expand on his long-standing use of cacti and tropical flora. Whereas earlier installations evoked speculative or post-human landscapes, the works in La Cosa Interiore turn inward, privileging the physicality and presence of the natural forms themselves.
Cast from cactus pads and tropical seeds, Gerenton’s materials are transformed into sculptural furniture and suspended mobiles. Tables and chairs—composed of resin casts in subtly tinted hues drawn from the original plants—are supported by slender frameworks of bent steel. Rather than imposing a premeditated design, the artist follows the logic of the organic shapes: “For me as a maker, I like that I have to be led by the original shape, and not the other way around,” he notes.
Hanging above the furniture, Gerenton’s mobiles introduce a formal counterpoint. The cast seeds, rendered in lead and coated in monochromatic industrial greens, possess a dense opacity that contrasts with the lightness and translucency of the furniture below. While the hues nominally refer to their botanical source material, their closed, uniform surfaces suggest a more manufactured presence—oscillating between nature and artifact, gravity and suspension.
Surrounding the sculptural works are a series of small-scale watercolors—dreamlike landscapes that trace the outlines of agricultural terrain in flux. These delicate compositions find their origin in a residency Gerenton undertook in Thailand, where he studied the environmental impact of the oil industry on the natural world. The resulting images depict altered ecosystems shaped by human intervention, yet conspicuously absent of human figures. In their quietude, they evoke a sense of aftermath—an introspective gaze on landscapes bearing the silent imprint of exploitation and change.
