François Réau is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is articulated in large-scale plastic realisations, installations and drawings, mental and physical landscapes. His devices mostly raise the principle of appearence and disappearance of the figure and motifs, at the very heart of the materials. Taking the space of the landscape and its transformation processes as a source of reflection, his work is determined by his questioning of the links between man and nature. We find in it the themes of temporality, space and human fragility. The landscape also evokes the journey, a place rich in all possible escapes, a point of departure or the symbol of a journey in progress.
“The landscape is always, in a way, the expression of lack; for the space of the landscape is also the very space of our own desire“.
The poetic and singular attention he pays to the world is mixed with memories, imbued with reality, imagination and fiction, but also with mystery and spirituality, allowing his plastic objects to be open to interpretations that he wishes to be multiple. In a way, his work is situated in an in-between. Between fascination, possibility and anxiety, they mix archaism and contemporaneity.
The installations he proposes weave links between dream and reality and then become the instruments of a poetic metaphor or the refuge of an intimate plastic feeling, which will offer the eye a potential re-enchantment. He also seeks to push the limits of the drawing medium through installation devices, so that it escapes its support and takes over the space, thus conferring on the drawing the possibility of being a space and a time of visual thought experience.
François Réau studied art in Poitiers, first at Fine Arts School and then at the School of Applied Arts. His natural and permanent contact with nature in the centre of France led him to work on the landscape and its transformation processs. The artist thus sought to reveal the ceaseless movement of nature at the heart of a cycle that alters everything. Later, he would declare that he created to compensate for his difficulty in conceiving beauty as well as in communicating.
His work can be found in several public and institutional collections such as the Bullukian Foundation in Lyon (FR), the FRAC Alsace (FR), the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud (FR), the SMAK in Ghent (BE) or the Musée Saint Roch in Issoudun (FR). His works have been exhibited at Lille3000 (FR), Mons 2015 European Capital of Culture (BE), the Guoyi Art Museum in Beijing (CN), and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (FR).
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FRAC Alsace, Sélestat (FR)
Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, Fontevraud (FR)
Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun (FR)
SMAK, Gent (BE)
Collection de Bueil & Ract-Madoux, Paris (FR)
Du Temps sois la mesure, cur. Léo Marin, Drawing Lab, Paris (FR)
Centre des Monuments Nationaux, cur. Sébastien Arnault, Tour de la Chaine, La Rochelle (FR)
Chapelles des Dames Blanches, cur. Doriat Ardiet, La Rochelle (FR)
Domaine de Kerguéhennec, cur. Olivier Delavallade, Bignan (FR)
Destination de nos lointains, Fondation Bullukian, cur. Fanny Robin, Lyon (FR)
Saison d’Art 2021, cur. Chantal Colleu-Dumond, Domaine de Chaumont sur Loire (FR)
Richard, (commande d’une oeuvre pérenne le décor d’une cloche), Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud (FR)
Les ombres que tu crées n’ont pas droit à la nuit, cur. Jean-Marc Dimanche, Eleven Steens, Bruxelles (BE)
Mirabilia, cur. Emmanuel Morin, Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud (FR)
La nuit s’enfuit avecques ses douleurs, Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun (FR)
Die Brucke, Lille (FR)
Espace Art Absolument, Paris (FR)
Le souvenir de ce que l’on a vu est plus fort que la chose elle même, H Gallery, Paris (FR)
Draw, cur. Philippe Platel, Alliance Française de Melbourne (AU)
A toute surface, on rêve de profondeur, Galerie Virginie Louvet, Paris (FR)
Toute personne qui tombe a des ailes, Centre d’Art Les Quinconces-L’espal, Le Mans (FR)
Outre Paysages, Espace d’Art Contemporain de Mourenx (FR)
Nuages, DDessin 2016, Atelier Richelieu, Paris (FR)
lille3000. Renaissance, Musée du château de Flers, Villeneuve d’Ascq (FR)
Espace d’art contemporain Lasécu, Lille (FR)
La forme précise du rêve, Galerie Felli. Paris (FR)
Hétérotopies, Lyon (FR)
Traversées, La Laverie, Centre d’Art Contemporain. La Ferté Bernard (FR)
The International Art Biennale, Fresh Winds, Commissariat Mireya Samper, Iceland (IS)
Campagne Première, cur. Fanny Robin, Revonnas (FR)
L’Art dans les Chapelles, cur. Eric Suchère, chapelle de la Trinité du Domaine de Kerguéhennec (FR)
H2M – Espace d’art contemporain, Bourg-en-Bresse, commissariat Fanny Robin (FR)
XXL, le dessin en grand, cur. Nathalie Chaix et Pamella Guerdat, Musée Jenisch Vevey (CH)
Vanitas of metamodern, NK Gallery, Anvers (BE)
Drawing in lockdown, SMAK, Gent (BE)
En quête d’espace, Espace Art Absolument, Paris (FR)
Kult, Galerie Dys, Bruxelles, (BE)
Collectible Nature Act. II, Sinople, Paris, (FR)
DDessin 2020, Drawing Art Fair, Atelier Richelieu, Paris, (FR)
A4 ARIE | Online Exhibition: 60 Days of Lockdown, cur. Cai Liyuan, Chengdu, (CN)
Une œuvre Un artiste Un jour, Espace Art Absolument, Paris, (FR)
Messe pour le temps présent, Variations, cur. Charlotte Lidon, 31 Project, Paris, (FR)
The Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 2020, Kunsthal Charlottenborg Copenhague, (DK)
Des marches, démarches, cur. Frac PACA, Musée Mac Arteum, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge (FR)
Lignes primitives présentielles, cur. Agnès Callu, FRAME Art Fair, Basel (CH)
Art Paris 2019, H Gallery Paris, Grand Palais, Paris (FR)
Dessin 2019, Atelier Richelieu, Paris (FR)
Mapping At Last – The Plausible Island, cur. Léo Marin, Topographie de l’Art, Paris (FR)
Dessein, Dessin, Design, fabrique médiatique de l’histoire, Collège de France Paris (FR)
La forêt des esprits, cur. Pauline Lisowski, Plateforme Paris (FR)
Anatomy of the fairytails, cur. Natacha Ivanova, Pörnbach Contemporary (DE)
Dessin contemporain, H Gallery Paris (FR)
Fragments d’une collection, cur. Nathalie Amiot, B & M-C Guiber, Horscadre, Auxerre (FR)
Dessiner aujourd’hui, cur. Fabienne Leloup, Centre d’art Rosa Bonheur, Chevilly Larue (FR)
The Drawing Hub, Berlin (DE)
Beyond the Map, cur. Soriana Stagnitta, Paratissima, Turin (IT)
Une île, cur. Pauline Lisowski, le 6b, Paris Saint Denis (FR)
Never Give Up – Grand Prix de l’Institut, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux (FR)
Matière Première, cur. Soriana Stagnitta, Galerie Laure Roynette, Paris (FR)
Dessin contemporain, cur. M. Gautier & C. Luna, Abbaye Royale du Moncel, Pontpoint (FR)
Le 6b dessine son salon #1, cur. Marie Gautier et Claire Luna, 6b, Saint Denis (FR)
L’eau textile, Musée textile La Manufacture des Flandres, Roubaix (FR)
Walk the line, Galerie Duchamp – Centre d’Art Contemporain, Yvetot (FR)
To what extent, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (FR)
Entrelacs, Collectif Zamaken & Galerie Valerie Delaunay, Paris (FR)
Éclipse, Musée des Beaux Arts de Menton (FR)
Être(s) au monde, Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve Loft 19, Paris (FR)
Dessin contemporain, Musée d’Art de Toulon (FR)
Panorama / avec le FRAC Basse-Normandie. Château Guillaume le Conquérant, Falaise (FR)
Parcours, Mons 2015 Capitale européenne de la Culture. Pôle Muséal Mons (BE)
Le Kabinet du Dessin, Le Kabinet, Bruxelles (BE)
La Petite Collection, cur. P. Piguet, C. de Bayser, A-C Guitard, Galerie White Project. Paris, (FR)
RN, Guoyi Art Museum
Galerie Nationale des Beaux Arts de Pékin (CN)
Paper, Thomas and Paul Gallery, Londres (GB)
Galerie Martagon, Malaucène (FR)
8ème Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes, (FR)
Parcours d’Artistes, Centre d’Art Les Passerelles, Pontault-Combault (FR)
Galerie Zamenhof. Milan / Château Charles V. Lecce / Palais Zenobio, Venise (IT)
Un avant Goût de la Genèse, Galerie Laurent Mueller, Paris (FR)
Traversée, Abbaye de Léhon (FR)
Propos d’Artistes, cur. Christophe Ménager, Domaine Saint Hilaire, Roiffé (FR)
Finalist with To what extent, 2016, Talents Contemporains – Fondation François Schneider (FR)
Finalist Grand Prix de l’Institut, Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux (FR)
Finalist with I Land, 2015 Talents Contemporains – Fondation François Schneider (FR)
Coup de coeur DDessin, Paris (FR)
Finaliste Prix SOON & R.L.D. Éditions, Paris (FR)
Sélection FID PRIZE 2015 – International Drawing Competition
Finaliste Prix de Dessin Pierre David-Weill, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris (FR)
The International Art Biennale, Fresh Winds, Iceland (IS)
Domaine de Kerguéhennec, commissariat. Olivier Delavallade, Bignan (FR)
The Drawing Factory et CNAP, Paris (FR)
A4 Artist in Residence International Exchange, Chengdu (CN)
Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud (FR)
Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun (FR)
FAR, Bundanon, Ambassade de France, Institut Français & Bundanon Trust (AU)
Iconoclasses, Yvetot – DRAC Haute-Normandie (FR)
lille3000. Maison Folie La Ferme d’en Haut, Villeneuve d’Ascq (FR)
La Laverie, Centre d’Art Contemporain. La Ferté Bernard (FR)
