In his new series, started end of 2014, Patrick Cornillet, paints all of the surface of the board (white wooden Box) while until 2013, elements of architecture were taken out of their environment and reconstituted in the form of objects on white background. Where the austerity was the rule in the previous series - a real uncluttered work - now the buildings dialogue with their environment and new bright colors appear in the background.
The infinite nuances of concrete, make us aware of the wealth of the material and of the remains left by the humans and by Time passing by. The work on the light is particularly impressive.The shadows are splendidly treated, bringing volume and contrast to the scene.
This rendering is eye-catching and raises questions.
Even if the architectures seem austere, spaces seeming uninhabited, dehumanized, Patrick Cornillet, with this very mastered work of an incredible strength creates a particular poetry and a mesmerizing mysticism. It is necessary to note that the paintings are all painted on elegant white wooden boxes, conferring on the "canvass" the status of a 3D object.
Patrick Cornillet was exhibited with the Gallery during Art Paris, Scope Basel, Art Copenhagen, Slick Paris and Brussels, as well as on numerous occasions during St-Art Strasbourg.
" The recent paintings by French artist Patrick CORNILLET present austere constructions in empty environments. Places in a non-space, fragments of enigmatic architecture. Reminding a video game, these paintings try to urge the spectator to follow their complex structures in search of an exit. But there is no exit ; in reality there is not more an entrance. The spectator is trapped by an imaginary space.
Words as ’severe’ and ’nude’ occur towards Patrick CORNILLET’s new works. As in its previous work, an impression of movement remains perceptible in structures although static at first sight. Their mass contrasts with the immaterial space which surrounds them, and as in a feverish dream the spectator set neither on the proportions of the structures, nor on their dimensions.
The spectator fights for giving a sense to the concrete constructions as motive ; certain images send back to architectural structures, although it is difficult to imagine what kind of building they were able to support. This perception, at once familiar and strange, strengthens the feeling of alienation that we feel in front of the work. In balance between both, the images evoke the ruins of a fallen society or maybe the threatening vision of a near future. They raise themselves naked like split up skeletons, deprived of their imaginary initial contents but keeping intact their singular mystic. "
Translation of a text by MARIA BREGNBAK, Art Historian
Patrick Cornillet was born in Nantes, France in 1968
He lives and works in Nantes
Solo shows
- 2021 Etat de surface, Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2019 Nouvelles peintures, Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2017 Cap à l'Ouest en duo avec Stéphane Joannes, avec la Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2016 Passe de 2, duo show with Stéphane Joannes, Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2016 Icônes du design, School Gallery Paris (France)
- 2014 Faire le mur, faire la lumière, Galerie Bertrand Gillig (France)
- 2013 Galerie Bertrand Gillig (duo show with Stéphane Joannes)
- 2012 Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2011 Galerie le rayon vert, Nantes (France)
- 2009 Art à la pointe, chapelle de la Trinité, Plozévet (France)
- 2009 Galerie Espace G bis/Bertrand Gillig, Strasbourg
- 2009 Galerie Espace G/Bertrand Gillig, Strasbourg
- 2008 Galerie petit Maroc, Saint-Nazaire Antres, galerie Susan Nielsen, Paris
- 2006 Disparitions/forsvindinger, galerie Birthe Laursen, Copenhague (Denmark)
- 2005 Traversées, galerie Birthe Laursen, Paris
- 2003 Muséum d’histoires naturelles, Nantes (France)
- 2002 Art(s) plastique(s)/le (la) plastique, centre culturel Jean Boucher, Cesson-Sévigné
- 2001 Galerie le rayon vert, Nantes (France)
- 2001 Galerie Birthe Laursen, Paris (France)
- 1999 Hommes et bêtes, galerie le rayon vert, Nantes Centre culturel ONYX, Saint-Herblain
Group show (Selection)
- 2018 Cap à l'Ouest - LLC Avocats with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2018 Luxembourg Artweek, International Artfair, with GalerieBertrand Gillig
- 2018 Other Realities, Espace d'art du Musée Paso, Drusenheim
- 2017 St-Art, Foire internationale d’Art Contemporain avec la Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2016 Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke, (Belgium)
- 2015 Art Paris, International Art Fair with School Gallery (France)
- 2014 St-Art, International Art Fair Strasbourg with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2013 Art Copenhague (Denmark) International Art Fairwith Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2013 Slick Bruxelles (Belgium) International Art Fair with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2013 Absolute Art Gallery,, Knokke, (Belgium)
- 2013 St-Art, International Art Fair Strasbourg with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2012 Art Paris, International Art Fair with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2011 Scope Miami (USA) International Art Fair with Waterhouse & Dodd Gallery (London)
- 2011 Lineart, Gand, International Art Fair with Absolute Art Gallery, Knokke, (Belgium)
- 2011 Absolute Art Gallery,, Knokke, (Belgium)
- 2011 Docks Art Fair (Lyon), International Art Fair with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2011 Scope Basel (Switzerland) International Art Fair with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2011 Musée de Tessé au Mans, Collection Lefranc Bourgeois
- 2010 St-Art, International Art Fair with Galerie Bertrand Gillig
- 2010 Passe de Quatre, Galerie Espace G/Bertrand Gillig Strasbourg (France)
- 2009 Slick Paris avec Galerie Espace G/Bertrand Gillig, Strasbourg
- 2009 Domestic affairs, galerie Susan Nielsen, Paris (France)
- 2008 Breathing space, galerie Susan Nielsen, Paris
- 2006 Art fair Copenhagen, Copenhague (Denmark)
- 2005 Art fair Copenhagen, Copenhague (Denmark)
- 2005 Le clou, le lieu unique, Nantes Instantané VI - distanced, galerie Birthe Laursen, Paris
- 2004 Instantané II - visions, galerie Birthe Laursen, Paris
- 2003 3 x 3 x 3, galerie le rayon vert, Nantes Instantané I - space, galerie Birthe Laursen, Paris Animal et territoire, jardin du Luxembourg, Paris Muséum national d’histoires naturelles, Paris
- 2001 Galerie le rayon vert, Nantes