Bonjour, Octopoda

“There must be more than this provincial life.”

These words, Belle's voice, pop into my head as I arrived in Pont-l’Évêque, France. Two hours west of Paris, it is a fairytale come to life: half-timbered houses with exposed wood beams juxtaposed against the stone and bricks of 15th-century buildings.

Today, though, Pont-l’Évêque is anything but provincial.

Amidst the cobblestone streets, the winding Touques river, and the late-Gothic flying buttresses of Église Saint-Michel, bold orange and bright green startle passersby. Big bright eyes peek over the edge of the bridge.

Meet Octopoda

Part alien, part octopus, part monster. A playful, inflatable character floating above the river, as if it had escaped from a cartoon into the real world. Born from the imagination of French artist Nicolas Barrome-Forgues, Octopoda was just one bright component of the artist's takeover of Pont-l’Évêque last summer.

The Queen

Just behind Maire de Pont-l’Évêque [city hall], another of Barrome-Forgues creations, The Queen, reigned supreme over an immaculate garden. Light filtering through her translucent wings, a gleam in her omniscient eye, the seated butterfly composed of wood and plexiglass made a majestic figure. The crown atop her head coupled with her hooked-like fangs gave off a playful vibe.

Assemblage

Barrome-Forgues enlisted collaborators to bring his larger-than-life characters to life: The Queen took shape from the skilled carpentry of Julia Mortel, known for building theater sets at Atelier Mortel. She carved smooth curves for wings and antennae, and crafted joints and angles into sturdy legs, all assembled in the garden where she resided. The Queen’s bright, playful color palette—reminiscent of an Esprit cardigan circa 1985—was painstakingly painted by the artist and Izte Miranda Barrome-Forgues.

Photography by Pavel Lantignac.

Meanwhile, Octopoda grew from flat pattern to buoyant form with Bill Kennedy of Inflatabill. His methodical work measuring, cutting, and stitching—brought the orange-fanged sea creature into three dimensions. But suspending an inflatable above flowing water presented technical challenges that required Kennedy, curator Matt Wagner, and a local crew from Pont-l'Évêque, to solve together.

“I still can't understand how this inflatable, luminous creature came to life above a river, but I promise you it was magical to see!”

—Barrome-Forgues

Polymorphe

This public art installation has its roots in last May's opening of Barrome-Forgues's Polymorphe show at Les Dominicaines, a former convent turned cultural arts center. Since the start of 2025, Charles Gelis, head of the Les Dominicaines Cultural Center & Art Library, has been leading the town’s effort to “rendre l'art accessible à tous”—make art accessible to everyone. As part of this, he invited Barrome-Forgues to bring his creatures—born from the place where Pop Art meets the surreal, and science fiction blends with the classics—into Les Dominicaines. But more than a few could not be contained. The outdoors beckoned, and they broke free.

An anthropomorphic pineapple took residence in a garden, a googly-eyed snail settled down at the water's edge, and a whimsical squid with its tiny batwings discovered its voice in a park. These playful creatures became an investigative game for residents and visitors alike.

Pont-l’Évêque

Barrome-Forgues transformed Pont-l'Évêque into something where the whimsical hovered above the everyday. Art, in this quiet village in Normandy with a population of just over 5,000, was accessible to all—whether you sought it out in a gallery or simply strolled along main street. Who knows what might appear next?