FERAL

Roman Feral, born in Paris in 1990, embodies the contemporary artist capable of bridging the gap between luxury design and fine arts—a path influenced by his upbringing in the heart of the French capital, where high fashion is woven into the very cultural fabric.

Although his background includes training at the prestigious Ateliers de Sèvres, Feral proudly claims his nature as a perfectionist autodidact. This drive led him to develop a proprietary engineering technique for his sculptures: utilizing real butterflies, sourced from ethical nature reserves in Africa and Asia, he mounts them on nearly invisible structures. These structures simulate a dynamic ascending motion, giving the impression that the swarm is bursting forth from within iconic Louis Vuitton trunks, Goyard bags, or Cartier packaging.

This pursuit of perfection led him, in the years following his debut, to evolve his practice beyond organic materials to embrace monumental bronze sculpture. He works in close collaboration with the historic Bocquel Foundry in Normandy, renowned for producing works by masters such as César and Arman. For these pieces, Feral employs a complex technique requiring over ninety hours of hand-polishing and tens of kilograms of metal to paradoxically replicate the lightness of wings and the texture of crocodile skin or fine fabrics—rendering eternal and indestructible that which is fragile in nature.

His positioning in the art market was solidified not only by critical success during Art Basel Miami Beach in 2018 but also by his inclusion in high-profile collections. In addition to the aforementioned acquisition by Maison Chanel for its historical heritage archives, his works have entered the homes of international celebrities and prominent private collectors.

Drawing inspiration from art giants like Damien Hirst for the use of butterflies and Takashi Murakami for the fusion of pop and luxury, Feral continues to work from his Miami studio. He explores new visual narratives that invite the viewer to question the value of time, mortality, and the persistence of beauty through the luxury object.