John Cornu

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John Cornu works with an aesthetic inherited from Minimalism and Modernism (monochromy, seriality, modularity, the primacy of the materials), while maintaining a strong relation to (historical, architectural, societal) context and a form of contemporary Romanticism (Dionysianism, erosion, blindness, references to different sonic universes, and entropy).
With an interest for modern ruins, architecture, logics of power, and anthropological gaps, the artist imbues his productions with an atmosphere at once poetic, cathartic and without compromise. Whether sculptural, performative, or installation-based, they address paradoxical forces, setting up a multiplicity of meanings and readings.

Born in 1976 in France, John Cornu lives and works between Rennes and Paris (FR).

His work has been shown in numerous solo and group shows in France at: Institut Giacometti, Palais de Tokyo, Cneai and Maison rouge (Paris); Mains d’œuvres (Saint-Ouen); Galerie Edouard-Manet (Gennevilliers); 40mcube/HubHug and Frac Bretagne (Rennes); Parvis Centre d’art contemporain (Ibos); Bel ordinaire (Pau); Les Trinitaires (Metz); BF15 (Lyon); EAC–Espace de l’Art Concret (Mouans-Sartoux); BBB centre d’art et Abattoirs–Frac Midi-Pyrénées (Toulouse);Prieuré de Pont-Loup (Moret-sur-Loing); Museum of Fine Arts in Rennes ; Museum of Fine Arts in Calais; Lyon Biennale; and BIS – Internationale Biennale (Saint-Paul de Vence).

He also exhibited at: 27+ Art Center (Hangzhou, CH); MACRO–Museo di Arte contemporanea di Roma (Rome, IT); Nanjo Art Museum (Okinawa, JP), Maison Arakawa (Takayama, JP); ZQM (Berlin, DE); Attic, Royal Academy of Arts and DBKAproject (Brussels, BE); Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts (Norwich, UK); Chambre Blanche (Québec, CA); CIRCA and the Nuit Blanche (Montreal, CA).

John Cornu is Senior Lecturer and Member of the Pratices and Theory of Contemporary Art [PTAC] Laboratory at Rennes 2 University in France.

From 2014 to 2020, he was former Director of Galerie Art & Essai, and in 2024 he founded the Artist-run Space called Tokonoma (Rennes 2 University).

Since 2007, he is part of label hypothèse, a non-profit curatorial group aiming to promote and exhibit Contemporary Art.

John Cornu is represented by Galerie Gilla Lörcher, in Berlin (DE).