Claire Chesnier
“Under B shall come ‘butterfly powder’
As the Claire Chesnier (Paris, 1986), herself states when talking about her artistic practice, in her work colour is not a given, it arrives. This very succinct statement points to two fundamental features in Claire Chesnier’s body of work —on the one hand, it regards time as a key element in her creative process which, very briefly, consists on applying a number layers of watered ink on a thick sheet of paper and, on the other, it refers to a dialogue with the gesture of the colour itself, that is, an internal rhythm that guides the appearance of a certain tonality. Chesnier’s work has a special quality akin to those manual, laborious and slow paced traditional techniques that allow the artist to develop a deep relation with the medium and the tools she makes use of. The coloured shape suspended into the white space is an attempt to circumscribe the excess of the medium —it creates a tension between the very sharp borders of the shape’s cut out and the infinite transparencies that conform the thickly coloured surface. The formal cohesion that is so clearly recognisable all over her work is the manifestation of a methodology and a clear line of investigation that enable her to delve into the material and immaterial qualities of light and colour. Claire Chesnier’s work draws from the modern and contemporary abstract tradition as well as from the experiments of the French Impressionists during the second half of the 19th century. And even further back because Claire is concerned with what is dearest to painters of all times, that is, light and its manifestation through colour. In her case, light comes naturally from within the painting, it is imbued in colour and flows all over the surface becoming more intense in areas with less layers of ink. The veils she so masterfully creates produce beautiful degradés that not only allow light to break through but also create the optical illusion of a non-representational abstract space. The ethereal quality of these chromatic landscapes contrasts markedly with the kind of bodily experience the artist seeks to produce. This is indeed one of the reasons why she hangs the pieces rather low —to facilitate a direct encounter with the paintings and to enable the visitor to experience at eye level the details and light fluctuations of her colour fields. Claire’s paintings swiftly captures our attention by depicting harmonious tonalities where darker and lighter areas gently coexist creating balanced compositions that bear a special kind of resonance. Claire’s polyhedral forms respond to a logic that originates in the artist’s relation with the support. This way of working recalls the delicacy of artists such as Ellsworth Kelly or Blinky Palermo whose work gravitated around the subtleties of form and colour with a keen interest in perception and spacial relations. A quick look at Claire’s series will reveal how the similar shapes contain slight variations that makes each of them unique. In her case, it is of paramount importance the tension produced not only by the shapes themselves but also by the combination of both hard and soft hedges that decidedly influences the way the colours behave and manifest to us. The severity of such coloured shapes creates a form of threshold that overcomes the flatness of the surface and suggests the illusion of depth. To conclude, it only takes a few seconds to realise that there are absolutely no brushstrokes marks in any of Claire’s works —this is in fact a very peculiar trait as it confronts an eminently manual artistic practice such as hers with mechanical production processes like printmaking or photography. The result is a pristine and seemingly unmediated body of work where the artist vanishes among the layers of ink thus inviting the viewer to experience light and colour at their fullest.
Claire Chesnier was born in 1986 in Clermont-Ferrand (France). Selected solo exhibitions include: Fragments d’une déposition, Espace Commines, Paris (2018), Résonances, Galerie du jour agnès b., Paris (2016), L’aire des aurores, commissariat : Léa Bismuth, le Patio Art Opéra, Paris (2014), Résonance, Yishu 8 – Maison des Arts, Pékin (2013). Selected group exhibitions include: Galerie Pauline Pavec (2018), MAD Multiple Art Days, c/o Printers Matters & Galerie du jour agnès b., La Maison Rouge, Paris (2017), Vantablack, commissariat : Erik Verhagen & Jocelyn Wolff, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris (2017). Selected international art collections: Collection FRAC Auvergne, Collection agnès b. (Paris), Collection Fondation François Schneider, Fondation de France (Wattwiller) and Collection Yishu 8 Maison des Arts (Pékin)
CLAIRE CHESNIER
Born in 1986 in Clermont-Ferrand. Lives and works in París.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 (next exhibitions)
L’Art dans les chapelles, Pontivy
Avec Estèla Alliaud, Galerie d’Art et d’Essai, commissariat John Cornu, Rennes
2018
(à venir) Galerie Maior, Palma de Majorque
(à venir) Galerie Barrès-Rivet, Toulouse
Fragments d’une déposition, Espace Commines, Paris
2016
Résonances, Galerie du jour agnès b., Paris
2014
L’aire des aurores, commissariat : Léa Bismuth, le Patio Art Opéra, Paris
2013
Résonance, Yishu 8 Maison des Arts, Pékin
Docks Art Fair, c/o Galerie Leonardo Agosti, Pavillon 8, Lyon
2012
Fragments d’une déposition, Galerie du jour agnès b., Paris
Fragments d’une déposition, Galerie agnès b., Marseille
Parcours Saint-Germain, agnès b., Paris
Re-veiling, T-Gallery, Bratislava
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
(à venir) Vertiges, une chute dans le vide du ciel, commissariat : Léa Bismuth, Lab LaBanque, Béthune
(à venir) Etats des lieux, La Vallée, Bruxelles
Fading away, commissariat : Céline Flécheux et Rosario Caltabiano, Galerie 22,48m2, Paris
A matter of resonance, sur invitation d’Estèla Alliaud, Résidence Huet-Repolt, Bruxelle
Aurores, Galerie Pauline Pavec, Paris
2017
Cinq fois deux, commissariat : Philippe Piguet, la Patinoire Royale, Bruxelles
Vantablack, commissariat : Erik Verhagen et Jocelyn Wolff, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris
MAD Mutiple Art Days, c/o Printers Matters, La Maison Rouge, Paris
Peindre dit-elle 2, commissariat : Julie Crenn, Annbelle Ténèze, Amélie Lavin, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole
Printers Matters, commissariat : Olivier Moriette, Mario Picardo, Edouard Wolton, Atelier rue Richier, Paris
2016
Histoire des formes, commissariat : Eric Degoutte, Centre d’art Les Tanneries, Amilly
Cinq fois deux, commissariat : Philippe Piguet, le Patio Art Opéra, Paris
A quoi tient la beauté des étreintes – La collection du FRAC Auvergne, FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand
Virage, Galerie de Roussan, Paris
Peindre n’est(-ce) pas teindre?, commissariat : Sandrine Morsillo, Musée de la toile de Jouy, Jouy-en-Josas
2015
Minéral, Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
Un regard sur la collection agnès b., commissariat : Marc Donnadieu, Lille métropole musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut (LaM), Villeneuve d’Ascq
Traits d’esprit, Galerie du jour agnès b., Paris
St’art, c/o Galerie Yves Iffrig, Parc des expositions, Strasbourg
Art Brussels – Contemporary Art Fair, c/o Galerie du jour agnès b., Bruxelles
Child Care for All (France Inde Karnataka), Piasa, Paris
Ouvrages de dames, commissariat : Dominique Païni, Galerie Valérie Delaunay, Paris
2014
Avec et sans peinture – exposition de la collection, Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MACVAL), Vitry
Et la peinture...?, Galerie du jour agnès b., Paris
Talents Contemporains, Centre d’Art Fondation François Schneider, Fondation de France, Wattwiller
Biennale du dessin, commissariat : Emmanuelle Brugerolles, Gilgian Gelzer, Bernard Moninot, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris D Dessin – Paris Contemporary Drawing Fair, Atelier Richelieu, Paris
Drawing Now – Salon du Dessin Contemporain, c/o Galerie du jour agnès b., Carreau du Temple, Paris
2013
The Drawer, c/o Editions The Drawer, Galerie du jour agnès b., Paris
Bruissements (« Nouvelles vagues », Palais de Tokyo), commissariat : Léa Bismuth, Galerie Isabelle Gounod, Paris
Sur la mauvaise pente (« Nouvelles vagues », Palais de Tokyo), commissariat : Nabila Mokrani, Galerie de Roussan, Paris Art Osaka, c/o Jeune Création, Institut français du Japon-Kansai, Hôtel Granvia, Osaka
Ce que le sonore fait au visuel, commissariat : Jeune Création, Françoise Docquiert, Richard Conte, Château de Servières, Marseille Last dance, commissariat : Le Syndicat Magnifique,
Galerie Gourvennec Ogor, Marseille
La rime et la raison, commissariat : MPVITE, Label hypothèse, l’Escaut, Bruxelles
Art Paris Art Fair, c/o Galerie Leonardo Agosti, Grand Palais, Paris
Fondation, Galerie Leonardo Agosti, Sète
La dispute de l’âme et du corps, commissariat : Jean-Christophe Arcos, Cloître des Billettes, Paris
Emergence, commissariat : Katrin Bremermann, Yifat Gat, Erin Lawlor, Hôtel Sauroy, Paris
2012
Filiations - Dialogues avec les oeuvres de la Donation Albers-Honegger, commissariat : Fabienne Fulchéri, Alexandra Deslys, Espace de l’Art Concret, Château de Mouans-Sartoux
Jeune Création, Exposition Internationale d’Art Contemporain, le CentQuatre, Paris
Prix International de Peinture – Novembre à Vitry, Galerie Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine
Décalage, Espace Commines, Paris
30/30 – Image Archive Project, The CCNOA Collective Collection, commissariat : Petra Bungert, Hoepfl Tilman, le Moins Un, Paris Ready for fatality? , commissariat : Fabienne Bideaud, c/o
Institut français de Berlin, Note on, Berlin
Athématique, Espace Brochage Express, Paris
Blank Generation, 57ème Salon de Montrouge, commissariat : Richard Conte, Jacinto Lageira, le Beffroi, Montrouge
Biennale de la Jeune Création, La Graineterie, Houilles
Figures du sommeil, commissariat : Catherine Viollet, Galerie Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine
2011
Prix International de Peinture – Novembre à Vitry, Galerie Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine
Comme elle vient, commissariat : Label hypothèse, Rosenblum Collection & Friends, Paris
Prix des Amis des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Galerie gauche, Beaux-Arts, Paris
Prix International de Peinture J.-M. Mourlot (Fondation de France), Galerie Jeu de Paume, Marseille
2010
Prix International de Peinture – Novembre à Vitry, Galerie Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine
2009
Prix International de Peinture – Novembre à Vitry, Galerie Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine
Kiitos II, Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
Il y a, c/o Institut Suisse Océan, Espace Lhomond, Paris
Kiitos, Galerie droite, Beaux-Arts, Paris
COLLECTIONS
- Collection FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand Collection agnès b., Paris
- Collection Fondation François Schneider, Fondation de France, Wattwiller
- Collection de la Ville de Vitry-sur-Seine, dépôt au Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MACVAL) Collection de l’Artothèque du Lot
- Collection Yishu 8 Maison des Arts, Pékin
- Collection Art Collector, Paris
- The CCNOA Collective Collection, Bruxelles
- Collection Association Florence pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris