Installation view, Regenerate, WIELS | Centre d’Art Contemporain, Bruxelles, 2021. Photo: Alexandra Bertels Comfy traveller, 2021, graphite and colored pencils on paper, 16 ½ × 11 ¾ in. Private collection MC Pascal et Sigismond, 2021, graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 16 ½ × 11 ¾ in. Special Kush, 2020, graphite, pastel and colored pencils on paper, 43 1/4 × 82 5/8 in. Private collection MC Women’s day, 2020. Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 16 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. Pleasure Waves, 2020. Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 16 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. Océaniania, 2019. Graphite, pastel and colored pencils on paper, 61 x 44 1/2 in. Un doute intersidéral, 2019. Graphite, pastel and colored pencils on paper, 61 x 44 1/2 in. ONSEN I, 2019. Graphite, colored pencils and airbrush on paper, 73 x 57 1/4 in. Private collection CN Avocado Fantasy, 2019. Pastel and colored pencils on paper, 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. Private collection MC L’oiseau rare, 2019. Pastel and colored pencils on paper, 61 x 44 1/2 in. Private collection MC Doudou et Una, 2019. Pastel and colored pencils on paper, 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. Private collection MC Corn, 2018. Ceramic, engobe, enamel, 31 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 15 in. Quatuor, 2018. Graphite, color pencil and airbrush on paper, 41 3/8 x 29 1/2 in. Private collection MC Land O’rama, 2018. Graphite, colored pencils and airbrush on paper, 55 1/8 x 39 3/8 in. Private collection FR Varuna, 2018. Enamelled stoneware, engobe, 24 3/8 x 17 3/4 x 57 1/8 in. Un secret, 2018. Graphite, color pencil and airbrush, 39 3/8 x 29 1/2 in. Private collection MC L’injustice, 2018. Graphite on paper, 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. Acolyte 1, 2018. Ceramic, engobe, enamel, 29 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. Acolyte 2, 2018. Ceramic, engobe, enamel, 21 5/8 x 17 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. La Banque Centrale, 2018. Graphite, color pencil and airbrush on paper, 41 3/8 x 29 1/2 in. Private collection MC Yeux de Vulves, 2018. Enamel, gold, diameter 6 1/4 in. Sakanas, 2017. Enamelled ceramic, 19 5/8 x 11 3/4 x 9 7/8 in., 18 1/2 x 12 5/8 x 10 1/4 in. pedestal Cosmic Couple 2, 2017. Graphite, pastel and colored pencil on paper, 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. Private collection CH Yoga 1 et 2, 2016. Ceramic, engobe, 25 5/8 x 17 3/4 x 11 in. and 24 3/4 17 3/8 x 11 in. Corns, 2015. Enamelled ceramic, 16 1/2 x 7 7/8 x 8 5/8 in. and 18 1/2 x 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. La Traversée, 2014. Graphite and airbrush on paper, 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. Orgasme cosmique, 2011. Graphite and color pencil on paper Anubis Fatigué, 2009. Graphite on paper, 31 1/2 x 55 7/8 in. The beginning of the end, 2009. Graphite on paper, 31 1/2 x 55 7/8 in. Private collection BE
Biography
The universe of Corentin Grossman mixes various iconographic influences, from medieval painting to popular arts, images of record sleeves, to 3D modeling products. From Jérôme Bosch to Brueghel, the Elder marked the artist, who often likes to develop compositions in which a multitude of disparate elements are arranged. If the surreal and dreamlike dimension seems obvious, his work is also anchored in reality, woven with references to current events such as the earthquake which struck Haiti in 2011, or more generally the phenomena related to globalization.*
“If I refer to a local, partial, tiny, or very short reality, it is better to register it in the interdependent and infinitely complex movements of the countless elements that make up our cosmos. The ambiguity of the approach also lies in this thought, the structuring tendency of which is doomed to failure in advance. It can be a question, not without humor, of the lightest and most serious thing at the same time. Relating them to eachother, without any hierarchy, is a poetry that I like.” – Corentin Grossmann
Corentin Grossmann’s work has been presented in the following institutions: Wiels, Bruxelles/BE (2021); Centre Pompidou, Metz/FR (2020); le Palais de Tokyo, Paris/FR (2019-2020); Les Magasins Généraux, Pantin/FR (2019); CAC – la synagogue de Delme, Delme/FR (2018); Le 19, CRAC, Montbéliard/FR (2016); Consortium, Dijon/FR (2012); la Fondation Ricard, Paris/FR (2011); Musée des Beaux-arts de Nancy, Nancy/FR (2010). Recent solo exhibitions include: Corentin Grossmann, curated by Cay-Sophie Rabinowitz, OSMOS, New York/us (2019); La Tentation du Sens, Galerie Jean Roch Dard, Paris/FR (2014); Grey Flags, Galerie Backslash, Paris/FR (2014); Notre Monde, Galerie Jean Roch Dard, Paris/FR (2011).
*Text from catalogue Futures of Love, Édition Magasins généraux, Paris, 2019.