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Agnès Varda Courtyard Galleries

J. François Réau

"Nuages"

published at 02/02/2021
Nuages, exposition de François Réau au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2021 - © Éric Sander
François Réau consistently draws in black and white. The result carries the mark of the past, of a childhood home that burnt to the ground, and a grandfather who was a coal merchant.
He says he thinks through drawing: “When we draw, it’s a way of understanding things, to define them. We define something or we address it, and as such, we also encompass things using a line.” This is his view of the nature and landscapes he portrays on paper, using mainly lead pencils and graphite pencils.
 
He also designs immersive installations that take into account the spiritual aspects of the venue, creating an unspoken connection between the history of the place and the viewing experience. His landscapes are spread out, or on the contrary, come closer together around a single detail, a piece that portrays all the materiality, whether it’s plant, mineral or liquid.
 
Very much in line with the Arte Povera movement, he focuses on time and space. He uses recovered and perishable materials, natural resources or second hand items. They are used in such a way in the space available, that these materials will enable him to create a whole new vocabulary that relates both to his style of drawing, and to everything he portrays with a stroke, a line or a marking.
This is a special attention he has chosen to pay to the world around him and to the invisible he defines. The white areas are places for breathing, pockets of air where the artist plays on the notions of appearance and disappearance.
 
His Nuages (Clouds) exhibited in the Agnès Varda Courtyard Galleries portray the sublime and fragile beauty of our world.
Artwork for the Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire
“Here, I was really looking to push the boundaries of drawing. I wanted to create an artwork that makes a direct reference to Nature or to this part of the landscape, and that, in a certain way, constitutes a symbol of what has gone unnoticed in the observation. For me, something which fundamentally represents a unique portrayal of movement. It was also essential for me to provide the viewer with an experience of the image that could surpass the physical realm, in producing the artwork in a fairly large format, so that it loses its definition as an object. It can hence be seen as a view.” François Réau
 
The cloud is an inconsistent structure that is constantly changing shape. In fact, it symbolises something that can surpass a standard observation and is a one-of-a-kind portrayal of movement. It can be considered as a clear image of the process of transformation, of something that doesn’t necessarily have a defined shape, something that embodies a metaphor of everything that overwhelms our ability to understand.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

François RÉAU
FRANCE
 
 

François Réau was born in 1978 and studied at the École Régionale des Beaux-Arts and then the École d’Arts Appliqués in Poitiers. Today, he lives and works in Paris.

His work focuses mainly on drawings and installations, mental landscapes and real landscapes. He plays on the notion of scale and the expression of immensely big or infinitely tiny, through the portrayal of vast natural landscapes. His artwork plays on the appearance and disappearance of the figure and the motifs, at the very heart of the materials. He seeks to push the boundaries of drawing, so that it escapes the media and is projected into space, providing a whole new dimension to his work.

AWARDS

2017
Finalist with To what extent, 2016 Contemporary Talents - François Schneider Foundation, Wattwiller, France
Finalist Grand Prix de l’Institut, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France
 
2016
Finalist with I Land, 2015 Talents Contemporains - François Schneider Foundation, Wattwiller, France
 
2015
Finalist Prix SOON & R.L.D. Éditions, Paris, France
Selection FID PRIZE 2015 - International Drawing Competition
 
2013
Finalist Prix de Dessin Pierre David-Weill, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Centre d’Art Contemporain La Laverie, La Ferté Bernard, France
Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun, France
SMACK, Gent, Belgien
Ville de Mourenx, France
Complete Biography

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021-2022
Circinus, Drawing Labs, Paris, France
 
2020
Les ombres que tu crées n’ont pas le droit à la nuit, Eleven Steens, Brussels, Belgium
 
2019
Mirabilia, Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, France
La nuit s’enfuit avec que ses douleurs, Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun, France
Die Brücke, Lille, France
Espace Art Absolument, Paris, France
Le souvenir de ce que l’on a vu est plus fort que la chose elle-même, H Gallery, Paris, France
 
2018
Draw, Alliance Française de Melbourne, Australia
À toute surface, on rêve de profondeur, Virginie Louvet Gallery, Paris, France
 
2017
Toute personne qui tombe a des ailes, Centre d’art Les Quinconces-L’Espal, Le Mans, France
 
2016
Outre Paysages, Espace d’art contemporain, Mourenx, France
Nuages, DDessin 2016, Atelier Richelieu, Paris, France
 
2015
Renaissance, Lille 3000, Musée du Château de Flers, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
Espace d’art contemporain Lasécu, Lille, France
 
2013
La Forme précise du rêve, Felli Gallery, Paris, France
 
2012
Hétérotopies, Lyon, France
 
2010
Traversées, La Laverie / Centre d’art contemporain, La Ferté Bernard, France

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021
Campagne Première, Revonnas, France
Sou-viens, le 6b, Saint Denis, France
 
2020
Kulte, Dys Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Paysage intérieur, Sinople, Paris, France
Drawing Art Fair, Atelier Richelieu, Paris
A4 ARIE I Online exhibition: 60 days of Lockdown, Chengdu, China
Une œuvre, un artiste, un jour, Espace Art Absolument, Paris, France
Messe pour le temps présent, Variations, 31 Project, Paris, France
The Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
 
2019
Des marches, démarches, Musée Mac Arteum, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, France
Du Paysage, Lille, France
Art Paris 2019
DDessin 2019, Atelier Richelieu, Paris, France
Mapping At Last - The Plausible Island, Topographie de l’Art, Paris, France
 
2018
La Forêt des esprits, Plateforme, Paris, France
Anatomy of the fairytails, Pörnbach Contemporary, Germany
Dessiner aujourd’hui, Centre d’art Rosa Bonheur, Chevilly-Larue, France
Dessein, Dessin, Design : fabrique médiatique de l’histoire, Collège de France, Paris, France
Dessin contemporain, H Gallery, Paris, France
Fragments d’une collection B & M-C Guiber, Horscadre, Auxerre, France
 
2017
The Drawing Hub, Berlin, Germany
Beyond the Map, Paratissima, Turin, Italy
Une île, le 6b, Paris Saint Denis, France
Never Give Up, Grand Prix de l’Institut, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France
Matière Première, Laure Roynette Gallery, Paris, France
Dessin contemporain, Abbaye Royale du Moncel, Pontpoint, France
Le 6b dessine son salon #1, 6b, Saint Denis, France
L’eau textile, Musée textile La Manufacture des Flandres, Roubaix, France
 
2016
Walk the line, Galerie Duchamp - Centre d’Art Contemporain, Yvetot, France
To what extent, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Entrelacs, Collective Zamaken & Galerie Valerie Delaunay, Paris, France
Éclipse, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Menton, France
Être(s) au monde, Suzanne Tarasieve Gallery Loft 19, Paris, France
 
2015
Dessin contemporain, Musée d’art, Toulon, France
Panorama, FRAC Basse-Normandie, Château de Guillaume le Conquérant, Falaise, France
Parcours, Mons 2015 Capitale européenne de la Culture, Pôle Muséal Mons, Belgique
Le Kabinet du Dessin, Le Kabinet, Brussels, Belgium
 
2014
La Petite Collection, White Project Gallery, Paris, France
RN, Guoyi Art Museum - Galerie Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Pékin, Chine
 
2013
Paper, Thomas and Paul Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Martagon Gallery, Malaucène, France
8ème Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes, France
 
2012
Parcours d’Artistes, Centre d’Art Les Passerelles, Pontault-Combault, France
Zamenhof Gallery, Milan, Italy / Château Charles V. Lecce, Italy / Palais Zenobio, Venice, Italy
Un avant-goût de la Genèse, Laurent Mueller Gallery, Paris, France
 
2011
Traversée, Abbaye de Léhon, France
Rendez-vous, Propos d’Artistes, Domaine Saint Hilaire, Roiffé, France
View on the map
Nuages, exposition de François Réau au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2021 - © Éric Sander
Nuages, exposition de François Réau au Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, 2021 - © Éric Sander
Sans titre, détail, Mine de plomb, graphite et incisions sur papier, 280×365 cm, Fil à plomb, 2016 - © Fran
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