Michel François’s studio is like a garden—un jardin contre nature—in which objects hang, transform, appear, disappear. Through minimal gesture with maximum effect, François transforms seemingly meaningless objects and materials into meaning-laden objects. Their spiritual character makes us pause in amazement at the artist’s impact on his surroundings, but in a larger context also on our own influence on the world we inhabit. In an agonisingly slow manner, a black block of marble is ...