Claude Viallat
Oeuvres récentes
For his sixth exhibition at Galerie Templon since 1998, Claude Viallat, an emblematic figure in the Supports/Surfaces movement, is presenting a previously unseen series of paintings on fabric.
The new exhibition sees Claude Viallat applying what has become his signature motif to printed fabrics. Covered in astonishing graffiti, layered advertising blurb, dots and ornaments, they create a dizzying mise en abîme based on the principle of repetition favoured by the artist. This systematic approach combined with artificial colours, shiny textures and the commercial aspect of a number of the materials – a scarf, a Christmas tablecloth – introduces an unexpected hint of New Realism and Pop Art. The artist has also linked his paintings to a series of balanced sculptures-objects, assemblages of driftwood, stones and ropes tied in knots.
The artist
Claude Viallat was born in 1936 in Nimes, France, where he continues to live and work. He is one of the founders of the Supports/Surfaces movement in the 1970s, which called for art to renew itself through a deconstruction of traditional materials. Viallat started to work on industrial tarp, endlessly repeating the same abstract pattern, resembling a small bone, which became his signature. Stencilled repeatedly onto a range of supports, the pattern asks us to reflect on the meaning of the creative act and the status of the work of art.
