Jean-Marie Appriou

Salt Crystals

15 January – 01 April 2015

Jan Kaps, Cologne

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Installation View, 2015

Installation View, 2015

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Installation View, 2015

Installation View, 2015

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Installation View, 2015

Installation View, 2015

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Pine cone, 2015, 140 × 45 × 90 cm

Pine cone, 2015, 140 × 45 × 90 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Pine cone (detail), 2015, 140 × 45 × 90 cm

Pine cone (detail), 2015, 140 × 45 × 90 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Chalk formation, 2015, 172 × 70 × 76 cm

Chalk formation, 2015, 172 × 70 × 76 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Chalk formation (detail), 2015, 172 × 70 × 76 cm

Chalk formation (detail), 2015, 172 × 70 × 76 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, My Father Swimming With Anubis, 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

My Father Swimming With Anubis, 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, My Father Swimming With Anubis (detail), 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

My Father Swimming With Anubis (detail), 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, My Father Swimming With Anubis (detail), 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

My Father Swimming With Anubis (detail), 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, My Father Swimming With Anubis (detail), 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

My Father Swimming With Anubis (detail), 2015, 158 × 94 × 76 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, The birth of salt, 2014, Dimensions variable

The birth of salt, 2014, Dimensions variable

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, The birth of salt (detail), 2014, Dimensions variable

The birth of salt (detail), 2014, Dimensions variable

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Bath (detail), 2015, Dimensions variable

Bath (detail), 2015, Dimensions variable

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Ray nails 1, 2014, 101 × 104 × 2 cm

Ray nails 1, 2014, 101 × 104 × 2 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Ray nails 1 (detail), 2014, 101 × 104 × 2 cm

Ray nails 1 (detail), 2014, 101 × 104 × 2 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Installation View, 2015

Installation View, 2015

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Ray nails 2, 2014, 101 × 104 × 2 cm

Ray nails 2, 2014, 101 × 104 × 2 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Sébastien (périscope) I, 2014, 207 × 80 × 70 cm

Sébastien (périscope) I, 2014, 207 × 80 × 70 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Sébastien (périscope) I (detail), 2014, 207 × 80 × 70 cm

Sébastien (périscope) I (detail), 2014, 207 × 80 × 70 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Bath, 2015, Dimensions variable

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Installation View, 2015

Installation View, 2015

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Kiss and Cry, 2014, 61 × 86 × 3 cm

Kiss and Cry, 2014, 61 × 86 × 3 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals, Kiss and Cry (detail), 2014, 61 × 86 × 3 cm

Kiss and Cry (detail), 2014, 61 × 86 × 3 cm

Jan Kaps, Jean-Marie Appriou, Salt Crystals,

Press release

Before settling down to family life, whilst on the cusp of her second trimester, she travelled the east coast of Africa in search of a great adventure – the kind of story that gets passed through generations of families with unrivalled, heartfelt attachment.

I don’t know exactly how it happened, but apparently it is fairly common practice over there. The urge starts in your pregnancy and can hold you for years – she kept the habit into her forties. I started to think of it as some sort of shamanic practice; I mean, there’s a history of us taking magic from the earth. But layers and layers of history demoted to a mouthful – surely it couldn’t have been good for a foetus to absorb so much. I asked her about it once.

It's a pleasant taste. It doesn't have a tangy flavour or a salty or sugary flavour. It's a bit like eating flour, and I simply cannot do without it. Even now, I awake from my sleep in an abrupt jolt, starving for a bite. I just have this urge to eat these stones.

James Lewis