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All is chance, and nothing happens by chance : I was watching Patrick Bokanowski’s 1984 film, "Chance’s part", which retraced Henri Dimier’s (1899-1986) life, when it dawned on me what my work’s orientation was going to be. The film, a true painting lesson, revealed the methods and techniques used by the artist, who placed chance a the center of the creative process : Chance invents shapes that the hand organises and fits within an elaborate graphical design.

It all began as a game, a game of chance, lacking in prior design. I was initially attracted by collages, which did not require me to learn how to draw, having discoverd collages by Prévert, Braque, Picasso, and later Schwitters. From encounter to random encounter and from trial to trial, a singular path took shape, often solitary ; I embraced, or rediscovered techniques used by others : rubbing  (which allows you to imprint upon a sheet of paper the relief of a salient piece), folding and crumpling (techniques that Simon Hantai pioneered). I then felt the urge to test and push my experiments further through my frequentation of the « Ateliers du Carrousel », an offspring of the Paris «  Musée des Arts décoratifs ». Notable among these was Laurence Jeannest’s drawing and painting studio, in1997 It was in Simone Couderc’s « materials mixing » workshop that I felt the next urge, that of « complexifying » my work by adding a third dimension and putting to use a variety of materials at the service of new forms. Collages thus became assemblies .

Once more, Chance begot necessity. At the outset, the random choice of materials : wire, cardboard, glass, scrap. There is no such thing as a « noble » material. Rather, discovery, tinkering, « hijacking » objects, modest or « poor » materials, in the tradition of arte povera. Then comes in visual and tactile chance : I use whatever object comes within my reach, that, by virtue of some unexpected color or shape, kindles my fancy. I then proceed with a « fitting ». Does the object fit within the structure ? Does it function as part of a whole ? Step by step, from draft to draft, the sculpture takes shape. Sometimes, when the choice of materials is limited, space – emptiness – becomes the ethereal construction’s quintessential component. The structure must be stable. Balance, or equilibrium, must be visual as well as mechanical. That double requirement was probably at the heart of Calder’s work, as well as that of the constructivists. Humor, chance’s accomplice, sometimes joins the dance. Since 2006, I have been working in a sculpture studio ( "Paris-Ateliers" then "Ateliers Beaux Arts de la ville de Paris) . Metallic rods and wire are at the source of my present work.

I live and work in Paris.


Personal exhibitions

2022 | from 05.12 to 05.16


2020 | from 11.30 to 11.30
Galerie Weiller | Paris

2018
Tenri Japonese cultural center | rue Bertin Poirée | Paris

2016 | from 11.30 to 11.30
Galerie Weiller | Paris

Le Sel | Centre Culturel | Sèvres

2014
Galerie Weiller | Paris, France

2012
Galerie Weiller | Paris, France

2010
Galerie Weiller | Paris, France

2008
Galerie Weiller | Paris, France

2006
Galerie Weiller | Paris, France


Collective exhibitions

2022 | from 11.26 to 12.07
Galerie du Montparnasse | Paris

2019 | from 01.24 to 02.23
Curiosités d'hiver | Galerie Mondapart | Boulogne Billancourt

2018
Réalités Nouvelles

2017
Réalités Nouvelles | Parc Floral Vincennes

2016
Réalités Nouvelles | Parc Floral / Vincennes

Galerie Crearte | Ars en Ré France

2015
Chateau des Tourelles | Le Plessis Trevise

Salon des arts | Sèvres

Realites Nouvelles | Parc Floral | Vincennes

Galerie Mondapart | Boulogne sur Seine France

2014
Ar'Cime | Paris, France

Réalités Nouvelles | Parc Floral | Vincennes

2013
Realites Nouvelles | Parc Floral | Vincennes

Arkifuse | Mairie du IXeme | Paris, France

2012
Réalités Nouvelles | Parc Floral | Vincennes

2008
Galerie du centre culturel japonais | Cologne, Allemagne

Regards sur cour | Gore, Senegal

2007
Arkifuse | 9th district city hall | Paris, France

2005
Galerie Peinture Fraîche | Paris, France

2004
Comparaisons (abstracted assemblage group) | Paris, France

2003
Salon Itinéraires | Paris, France

Nouvelles Tendances | Marly le Roi, France

Salon des Arts | Vaucresson, France

Les Beaux Arts de Garches | Garches, France

2002
Salon des Arts | Vaucresson, France

Artcolle | Paris, France

Les Beaux Arts de Garches | Garches, France

Salon des Beaux Arts | Chatou, France

Comparaisons (abstracted collage group) | Paris, France

2001
Salon des Arts | Vaucresson, France

Les Beaux Arts de Garches | Garches, France

Nouvelles Tendances | Marly le Roi, France

Artcolle | Paris, France

2000
Artcolle | Paris, France

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Logo Caroline Zelnik