Propelling us into a world of fantasy, symbolism and mysticism, legendary filmmaker and artist ALEJANDRO JODOROWKSY and artist PASCALE MONTANDON, who also happen to be contributors to The Third Eye, continue to surprise us with their collaborative oeuvre. Created by four hands, these surreal works touch upon the mythological and cosmic to the absurd and tragic, spiced with a sense of humour and psychomagic. The Third Eye couldn’t wait to see what new curious creations they had given birth to…

A decapitated meditating sage, a suited tiger and woman, a Pierrot riding a fly with giant eyes over a circus tent, multiple armed beings in embrace… These are just some the bizarre and enchanting realities depicted in Jodorowsky-Montandon’s work. Now on view at the Galerie Foret Verte in Paris, this exhibition presents a fresh new series of their collaborative artworks, following on the first public presentation of their communal oeuvre in 2009 at the Horse Hospital in London.

Jodorowsky and Montandon are no strangers to The Third Eye. You can find the couple in intimate conversation about their collaborative work in the first issue of The Third Eye magazine, along with a series of their artworks.

The couple recently also collaborated for Jodorowsky’s new film La Danza de la Realidad (2013) – marking his return to cinema after 23 years – following on from his seminal and cult psychedelic films such as El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973). Montandon notably conceived and designed the costumes for this surreal-autobiographical epic shot in Jodorowsky’s childhood town of Tocopilla in Chile.

Pascale explains their working process for their works on paper, in her book La danza de mi realidad:

“We began working together following the same principle. Alejandro would do the line drawing with no interference from me, then give it to me without any kind of indication, so as to let me create the colours on my own… Working together like that without any kind of struggle or resistance taught us to listen and to be receptive; to be at the service of the artwork rather than of ourselves, given that it couldn’t exist without the intervention of the other, without that sharing”.

The nature of existence, formed of feminine and masculine principles, or Yin and Yang, finds expression and sublimation in these works. The theatrical scenes conjured by Jodorowsky and Montandon bring into play the balance, unity and fluctuation of such forces through manifestations of the celestial and earthly, body and soul, male and female, peace and violence… Beings embrace one another, levitate and fly together, while others are bound together via an umbilical cord.

The result of their collaboration never fails to surprise and inspire. As Jodorowsky and Montandon say themselves – their collaborative work is like a child. A new artist is born, sealing the works with the signature “pascALEjandro“. “Working together, creating with four hands was our way of giving birth to our child, a symbolic child born of our love, for which we jointly shared the responsibility of rearing, of nurturing until it took on its own life”, says Pascale.

A beautiful and growing oeuvre testifying to Jodorowsky and Montandon’s cosmic synthesis of Art, Life and Love.

Artworks Courtesy of the Artists

Text by Sophie Pinchetti

JODOROWSKY & MONTANDON’S TRAVELLING WORKS

Alejandro Jodorowsky & Pascale Montandon’s works are presented by Francine Grünwald at the GALERIE FORÊT VERTE, on view through July 10 2014, 19 Rue Guénégaud, 75006 Paris.

You can also catch their works in Bordeaux at the CAPC and at the Museum of Modern Art of Mexico City in 2015, which will both pay tribute to Jodorowsky’s work through a retrospective exhibition.

A selection of their works is also published in Pascale Montandon-Jodorowsky’s book, La realidad de mi danza, published by Baobab.