John Cornu
John Cornu (French artist) 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, 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 (FR), John Cornu lives and works in Rennes and Paris. His work has been shown in numerous solo and group shows at : Institut Giacometti (Paris, FR), Palais de Tokyo and Maison rouge (Paris, FR), Mains d’œuvres (Saint-Ouen, FR), CNEAI (Chatou, Paris, FR), Galerie Edouard-Manet (Gennevilliers, FR), 40mcube/Hub Hug (Rennes, FR), Frac Bretagne (Rennes, FR), Parvis Centre d’art contemporain (Ibos, FR), Bel ordinaire (Pau, FR), CACN-Centre d’art contemporain (Nîmes, FR), Les Trinitaires (Metz, FR), BF15 (Lyon, FR), EAC–Espace de l’Art Concret (Mouans-Sartoux, FR), BBB centre d’art et Abattoirs–Frac Midi-Pyrénées (Toulouse, FR), La Galerie Duchamp – Centre d’art contemporain (Yvetot, FR), Prieuré de Pont-Loup (Moret-sur-Loing, FR), Musée des Beaux-arts in Rennes and in Calais (FR), Lyon Biennale (FR), Attic (Brussels, BE), Académie royale des Beaux-Arts (Brussels, BE), DBKAproject (Brussels, BE), Les Brasseurs (Liège, BE), Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts (Norwich, UK), CIRCA (Montréal, CA), MACRO–Museo di Arte contemporanea di Roma (Rome, IT), Chambre Blanche (Québec, CA), ZQM (Berlin, D), Nanjo Art Museum, Okinawa (Jpn), POSITIONS Berlin art fair 2021 | booth Galerie Gilla Loercher (D), Galerie Gilla Loercher (Berlin, D), and the Nuit Blanche in Montreal (CA). In 2023 he participated the Biennale Saint Paule de Vence (FR).
