On the occasion of the 18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Ceysson & Bénétière is taking part in La Traversée, a new off-site exhibition format conceived by Manifesta, bringing together a select number of galleries in an exceptional venue nestled in the heart of the Monts d'Or. From 16 September to 2 October 2026, as part of this group exhibition included in the Biennale's Résonance programme, the gallery will present a solo exhibition by French-Vietnamese artist Bao Vuong.
French-Vietnamese artist Bao Vuong paints what the sea strives to preserve. His canvases bear the scars of crossings—both intimate and collective—of bodies and souls shaped and wounded by the ocean. His gestures emerge from a distant, profound night: one marked by fear and exile, etched into the flesh of those who fled and those who survived; the night that witnessed a child uprooted from his homeland.
Each wave, each reflection, whispers the names erased by the wind; his paintings preserve their memory and give voice to their remembrance. The sea he evokes is one of shipwrecks and loss, yet also of hope—of the promise of a brighter tomorrow. That horizon, which so often seems unreachable, even invisible, can nevertheless be crossed by the living—by those who will one day bear witness.
The blackness of Bao Vuong's paintings is not that of emptiness, but of beginnings. From this darkness, light emerges.
Here, shadow and light do not stand in opposition; they extend one another. Like Yin and Yang, they contain, nourish, and balance each other within the same breath. Between them unfolds an infinite spectrum of nuances, just as between two points in the world lies an infinite number of possible lives.
In his paintings, the artist does not seek to represent but to reveal: beauty on the edge of fear; life, fragile yet enduring; the relentless determination of the waves to reach the shore, and that of the sea foam resisting the final breath of the tides. His work speaks of what binds human beings despite distance, of what endures even when everything seems to fall apart. [...]
Bao Vuong seeks the essence of the world: infinity.
Visits by appointment only
23–27 Chemin du Coûter
69450 Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d'Or, France
To schedule a visit: nazanin@ceysson.com