By focusing on the elements that create distance from the work itself, Matisse Mesnil has developed a body of technical and methodological experimentation centered on his material of choice: metal. Positioned between craftsmanship and industry, this material requires a reconsideration of gesture and tools: working rhythms become subordinate to its physical processes and the technical apparatus becomes fully integrated into the formal construction of the work.
Through practices such as welding and grinding, the artist reworks the means of figuration within its most traditional genres, including landscape and still life. This research is accompanied by an increasingly essential vocabulary, modules of lines and minimal variations, that approaches the language of minimalism without fully adhering to it. Alongside the noise of the industrial world emerges the ethics and aesthetics of a quiet contemplation. A subtle tension runs through the artist’s most recent works, which nonetheless evoke an almost sacred dimension. This is also evident in the scenographic and architectural attention that structures his practice: from their format to their modes of display, the works are conceived to be experienced spatially and in direct relation to the viewer’s body.
More recently, Mesnil has expanded his research toward a larger scale, developing site-specific land art interventions produced during artistic residencies, where the work engages directly with the landscape and the material conditions of a given place.
Matisse Mesnil lives and works between France and Italy, with studios at POUSH and Gate 44. In addition to solo exhibitions, he regularly participates in group shows in galleries and institutions in France and internationally, including the Centre Pompidou-Metz, Collection Lambert (Avignon), Zhi Art Museum (Chengdu, China), Mucem (Marseille), and the Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Grasse).
He also participates in major Art Fairs such as Artissima, Miart, and Art Brussels.
