From June 25 to July 25, Claude Viallat presents a collection of about ten works at the Ceysson & Bénétière gallery in Paris. These works mark a pivotal point in his constantly evolving practice, focusing primarily on form, folding, and imprinting. Through fluid and permeable media, paint and color—of which Claude Viallat is merely a tool—manipulate form through the capillarity of fabrics and the exploration of ideas first expressed in 1974. While the artist has successfully developed a unique form over six decades, his work now gives way through the imprint of various recycled materials, from rags to pieces of armchairs—to new forms and new spaces of expression for the artist.
“I prefer to paint in my studio. There’s a moment of intense panic and incredible pleasure—it’s the moment when everything falls into place, accompanied by the feeling that nothing is going to work out, and as it all comes together, you experience a moment of immense emotion.”
— Interview with Catherine Lawless, 1991
The canvas becomes a floor in its own right, upon which the artist can work with other media, before separating the various pieces of these assemblages—which are no longer meant to form a whole—and observing the final result on the work referred to as the “floor.” This renewed freedom in the artist’s work stems from a rigorous approach and a continuous exploration of his practice and its limits. Here, it is through a medium previously utilized that the artist enhances his work with new ideas and concepts, yielding radically different, unrecognizable results. Sixty years of practice do not prevent one from being a young artist brimming with ideas and from continuing to break new ground through one’s work, as Claude Viallat demonstrates with this new exhibition at the Parisian gallery Ceysson & Bénétière.
Théo Simonou-Viallat, 2026
