Sophie Zénon
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Selected Works
L'Herbe aux yeux bleus, 2020-2023
Under the enigmatic title L'herbe aux yeux bleus (Blue-eyed grass), the fourth part of Sophie Zénon's Rémanences cycle, the artist presents her latest opus, based on four years of research in eastern France on so-called obsidional plants, the botanical term for plants introduced by foreign armies during periods of conflict (Napoleonic wars, 1870's war, WWI and WWII). Rich in symbolism and poetry, this relatively recent botanical research is an original way to sketch the history of a territory, to highlight the reciprocal influences between humans and plants, and to approach migrations from a particularly innovative angle.
Situated at the crossroads of the arts, photography, printmaking, weaving, sculpture and installation, Sophie Zénon's plastic approach is multi-faceted and articulated according to different protocols, calling in turn for the body in the landscape, the codes of the herbarium and the gesture in the studio. True to her approach, Sophie Zénon is interested in revealing the invisible, delegating to each plant, each flower, each tree, its power of expression. In a multi-faceted approach, unique, experimental plant prints (photograms), charcoal prints of “machine-gunned” tree bark, delicate sculptures of woven and then shaped paper stamps, fantasized landscapes on semi-transparent veils, and a mixed-media artist's book shows the design of matter in its pure, simple beauty.
La Danse du Feu, 2022
Polyptych composed of 12 enamelled and serigraphed steel plates. Format 53 x 240 cm.
With the collaboration of Marie-Hélène Soyer (Atelier Emaux-Métaux, Nantes), of Bretagne Emaillage (Héric) and SPEF (Syndicat professionnel des émailleurs français).
La danse du feu is an experimental work, combining photography and enamel on steel. In 2021, during a creative residency in the Limousin (France), Sophie Zénon discovered the ancient art of metal enameling, a technique that consists of covering steel, copper, stainless steel, silver or gold plates or forms with one or more thin layers of glass colored with metallic oxides. Fascinated both by this material and by the history of this medium, which has strong roots in the Limoges region, Sophie Zénon, with the help of art-masters, has created a polyptych of 12 enamelled and screen-printed steel plates, a contemporary version of the photo-enamelling technique perfected in Limoges in the 19th century, the know-how of which has now been completely lost.
Much less well known than enamel on copper, enamel on steel offers multiple possibilities for material effects and textures, which the artist has played with to create a piece that seems to have emerged from the depths of the earth. His polyptych, playing on textures and oppositions (shiny/matt, smooth/rough, precious/rough), evokes both the beauty of the enameller's intimate gesture and the collective memory of the hand.
La mémoire des pierres, 2024
The visual artist Sophie Zénon travelled the Morbihan region in search of secret places, accompanied by a heritage officer. The result is a series of images entitled La mémoire des pierres.
“Little-known treasures, built, sculpted and shaped in times immemorial, testifying to the diversity of activities carried out in the past, but also the seeds of a culture handed down to us by the ancients. Here, a chapel with jagged tympanums; further down, a washhouse designed in hollows; there, a ruined manor house or an imposing granite calvary; further on, a megalithic site with endless alignments that so dazzled Stendhal: “This ancient procession of stones benefits from the emotion given by the proximity of a dark sea...”. The result is a radical set-up for the shots, as desired by the artist who relentlessly experiments with the photographic medium to create organic, vibrant and poetic works. Here, Sophie Zénon has opted for a frontal approach and general shots. She has used an ancient technique, orotone, a photographic print on a silver gelatin glass plate made by Caroline Chik, to which she has applied gold gilding with a brush. And the viewer discovers a precious, delicate, fragile, timeless object, in shades of black and tan, as if echoing these sacred monuments, dear to the hearts of their inhabitants.” - Cyril Drouhet, Artistic Director, La Gacilly Festival
Photographs by Sophie Zénon for La Gacilly.
Carte blanche from the Morbihan department. -
Biography
Biography
France , 1965
Sophie Zénon articulates her work around recurring themes - memory, history, loss, the passage of time. She creates bridges between intimate and patrimonial history, where the present is a vessel for accumulated time and history that she crystallizes through trace, metaphor and the marvelous. Photographs, reactivated archives, artist's books, videos, installations, as well as glass engravings, monotypes, woven and modeled prints... Her work unfolds in a polyphonic narrative, revealing the important place the artist bestows to experimentation, materiality and the hybridization of media. Her work is organic, vibrant and poetic, guided by notions of fragility, impermanence and the breath of life. Since 2000, her work has been exhibited in Europe as well as internationally in prestigious venues (Palais de Tokyo, BNF, Mobilier national, galerie Thessa Herold, Fondation Pierre Bergé / YSL, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Fondation François Schneider, Le Houston Center for Photography) and has entered public collections and numerous private collections.Sophie Zénon has received several awards, including the creation grant of the Fondation des Artistes (2022), the Prix Eurazeo (2019), the Prix de la Fondation des Treilles (2015), the Prix Kodak de la Critique (1999), and was a finalist for the Villa Kujoyama in 2023. In February 2024, Sophie Zénon was designated as a laureate by the French Ministry of Culture to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the "maîtres d'art / élèves" program, for her visual art project based on gesture and know-how, which she will produce using ante-digital processes.
PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS
2024 Or Norme, Maison Guerlain, Paris
2024 La mémoire des pierres, festival La Gacilly (Bretagne)
2024 L'herbe au yeux bleus. Salon Art-Paris-Galerie XII, Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris.
2023 L'herbe au yeux bleus. La Chambre, Strasbourg.
2023 Arborescences. Abbaye de Daoulas (Finistère)
2020 Frondaisons, Musée de la Résistance en Argoat,, Saint-Connan (Côtes d'Armor)
2019 Ce que murmurent les fantômes, Centre photographique L’Imagerie, Lannion
2018 Pour vivre ici, Le quadrilatère, Beauvais
2018 Le Ciel de ma Mémoire, Oracles, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller
2017 Dans le miroir des rizières, SALON PARIS-PHOTO, galerie Thessa Herold. Solo show
2017 Dans le miroir des rizières. GALERIE THESSA HEROLD, Paris,
2017 Pour vivre ici , Abri-Mémoire, Uffoltz (Alsace),
2016 Ad Vitam, Galerie Jecza, Timisoara (Roumanie)
2015 Earth, Sky, Water, Galerie Schilt Amsterdam (Pays-Bas)
2014 Fugace, Galerie Line Lavesque, Arles
2014 Asies, Galerie Regards Sud, Lyon
2014 Miroirs et Simulacres, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Etampes
2014 Le Corps à Vif et Ex-Ossibus, Musée de la Poste, Paris
2012 Des cadavres exquis, Galerie Thessa Herold, Sélection Mois de la Photo à Paris
2012 2012 Mongolie, Musée Albert Kahn, Boulogne-Billancourt
2011 In Case We Die, Fondation d’art contemporain Fernet Branca, Saint-Louis en Alsace
2009 Transmissions, Jardins du Palais Royal, Ministère de la Culture, Paris
2009 In Case We Die, Galerie ALB, Paris
2006 La Terre transfigurée, Sèvres Cité de la Céramique, CIEP, SEL, Sèvres
2005 Corps mécaniques, Musée industriel de la Corderie Vallois, Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville
2005 Haïkus mongols, Maison de la Chine, Paris
2004 Haïkus mongols, Galerie Carré Amelot, La Rochelle
2003 Haïkus mongols, Suite sibérienne, Centre Atlantique de la Photographie, Brest
2003 Suite sibérienne, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy
2002 Haïkus mongols, Galerie photo FNAC, Taipei (Taiwan)
2001 Haïkus mongols, Galerie Photo FNAC Orléans, Lyon, Caen, Rouen
2000 Haïkus mongols, Galeries Photo FNAC, Paris
2000 Haïkus mongols, Encontros da Imagem Braga (Portugal)
2000 Haïkus mongols, Centre de la Photographie, Lectoure
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS / FESTIVALS
2023 La danse du feu, Salon Approche, Galerie XII, Paris
2023 Epreuves de la matière. Commissariat Héloïse Conesa, BNF, Paris
2023 Et nos morts ? Commissariat : Michaël Houlette, Maison Robert Doisneau, Gentilly
2023 La Collection photo de la Fondation des Treilles in Moviment, Centre Beaubourg, Paris
2022 Les "Aliénés" du Mobilier National, Galerie des Gobelins, Paris
2022 Alençon. 13onze15, du jour au lendemain. Association Fraternité et Vérité
2021 Dans le miroir des rizières, Fondation des Treilles, Maison de la Photographie, Toulon
2021 L'Homme-Paysage, Festival d'art contemporain, Saint-Saturnin (Auvergne)
2019 Dans le miroir des rizières, Rencontres Inter. de la Photo en Gaspésie, Gasgapegiag, Canada.
2019 L’Homme-Paysage, Festival Photoroad, Gibellina (Sicile), Italie
. 2017 Short stories in Halsnoy Kloster, Musée HALSNOY KLOSTER (Norvège)
2017 Sicile, sous le volcan, Festival PHOTOMED, FONDATION RICARD Ile de Bendor.
2020 Paris. 13onze15, du jour au lendemain. Mairie de Paris / Association Fraternité et Vérité
2020 Keeper of the Hearth, Houston Center For Photography, Houston, USA
2020 Dans le miroir des rizières, Fondation des Treilles, Théâtre de la Criée, Marseille
2019 L'esprit commence .… Paris, Palais de Tokyo, Avec la Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller
2018 Dans le miroir des rizières, Fondation des Treilles, Hôtel de Sauroy, Paris
2018 Jeux de Dames, Salon Art Basel, Christian Dior Couture, Hong-Kong
2018 Galerie Thessa Herold, Salon Art-Paris, Art Fair, Grand Palais, Paris
2018 Momies de Palerme in « Pêle-Mêle », Galerie des Hospices,, JM Ferrer, Limoges
2017 Paysages français. Une aventure photographique 1984-2017, BNF, Paris
2017 Galerie Thessa Herold, Dans le miroir des rizières, Paris-Photo, Gd-Palais, Paris
2016 Les Invisibles, Le Cellier, Commissaire : Gabriel Bauret. In "Patrimoines revisités". Reims.
2016 Galerie THESSA HEROLD, Salon Paris-Photo, Grand Palais, Paris
2016 Le Corps à Vif : Gd Livre de Palerme ; Verdun. Festival du Regard, St Germain en Laye
2016 Le Corps d'Yrieix, Maison du Patrimoine, Commissaire : M. Nadal. Saint Yrieix La Perche
2015 Italia Out. Palazzo della Ragione, Commissaire : Giovanna Calvenzi. Milan, Italie
2015 Galerie THESSA HEROLD, Salon Paris-Photo, Grand Palais, Paris
2015 Delisle, MUSEE DES ARS DECORATIFS, Paris
2015 Sèvres, Porcelain of the Kings, Musée et galerie de l'Université, Hong Kong
2015 Elles Toutes, Galerie LES COMPTOIRS ARLÉSIENS, Arles
2014 Galerie THESSA HEROLD, Salon Paris-Photo, Grand Palais, Paris
2013 Galerie THESSA HEROLD, Salon Paris-Photo, Grand Palais, Paris
2013 Galerie THESSA HEROLD, Salon Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris
2013 Vent d'hiver, Galerie LES COMPTOIRS ARLÉSIENS, Arles
2013 No Strangers, Fondation ANNENBERG SPACE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY, Los Angeles (USA)
2012 Le dessein du geste. Savoir-faire et design, HÔTEL DE VILLE, MAIRIE DE PARIS, Paris
2012 Galerie THESSA HEROLD, Salon Paris-Photo, Grand Palais, Paris
2011 Galerie LES COMPTOIRS ARLÉSIENS, Arles
2011 Salon de la Mort, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris
2010 In Case We Die, in Vanité. Mort que me veux-tu ? Fondation Pierre Bergé / YSL, Paris
2010 Roads Over Troubled Water, Festival Les Promenades Photographiques, Vendôme
2010 Nous avons fait un très beau voyage, ESPACE DU SAUROY, Mois de la Photo à Paris 2010
2009 Haïkus mongols, Festival CHOBI MELA V, Dhaka (Bangladesh)
2006 Suite sibérienne, Festival Images en Scène, Limoges
2007 Bretagne vivre autrement, Festival Photo Nature et Paysage, La Gacilly
2006 Suite sibérienne, Festival Photo Nature et Paysage, La Gacilly
2005 Météo Marine, VILLA TAMARIS, Festival L’œil en Seyne Festival, La Seyne sur Mer
2005 Haïkus mongols, Festival ANGKOR PHOTO, Siem Reap (Cambodge)
2004 La collection photo de la FNAC, LA CONCIERGERIE,« Mois de la Photo à Paris 2004 »
2002 Suite sibérienne, Festival Chroniques Nomades, Honfleur
2002 Haïkus mongols, Festival Arrêt sur Image, Bordeaux
2001 Haïkus mongols, Biennale de la photographie féminine, Saint-Pétersbourg (Russie)
ARTIST BOOKS
• L’album de la guerre, 2021-2023
• Les Dormeurs de la forêt, éditions FMA, 2022
• Nonni, 2015.
• Ex-Ossibus, 2014.
• Verdun, ses ruines glorieuses, 2013.
• Grand Livre de Palerme, 2012.
VIDEOS
• Frondaisons, 2019. 8,42 minutes
• Pour vivre ici, 2017. 17,3 minutes
• L’Homme-Paysage, 2015, 3,12 minutes
MONOGRAPHIES AND EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
• Pour vivre ici, Editions LOCO, 2019
• Dans le miroir des rizières, Galerie Thessa Herold, 2017
• Ad vitam, galerie Jecza, 2016
• Des Cadavres exquis, 2012. Galerie Thessa Herold, Paris.
• In Case We Die, 2011. Editions de Saint-Louis / Fondation d’art contemporain Fernet-Branca.
• Roads over Troubled Water, 2010. Editions Schilt Publishing / Benteli Verlag.
• Mongolie, l’esprit du vent, 2005. Bleu de Chine / Benteli Verlag.
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2024 Gestes en partage. Ministère de la Culture / INMA / BNF. 30 ans du dispositif Maîtres d’art / Elèves. Paris
2022 This is the wind and nothing more, Collection « Les Aliénés du mobilier National, » Paris
2011 Les mains d'Aubusson, Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie et de l’art tissé, Aubusson
2008 Les manufactures textiles du Mobilier National, Paris, Beauvais
2006 La Terre Transfigurée, Manufacture de Sèvres / Cité de la Céramique
PRIZES - GRANTS
Lauréate of the creative grant of the Fondation des Artistes (2022), of the "Résidence pour la photographie" prize of the Fondation des Treilles (2015), the Prix Kodak de la Critique (1999), EURAZEO prize (2019)
and finaliste for the Villa Kujoyama (2023), the photo prize Marc Ladreit de Lacharrrière / Académie des Beaux Arts (2021), the Prix Niépce (2015), the Prix Nadar (2012).
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris
Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), Paris
Musée français de la Photographie, Bièvres
Bibliothèque du livre d’artiste Kandinsky / Centre Pompidou Beaubourg, Paris
Bibliothèque du livre d’artiste du Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Pays-Bas)
Fondation des Treilles (Var)
Musée Albert Kahn, Boulogne-Billancourt
Collection photographique de la FNAC, Paris / Musée Niepce, Chalon sur Saône Artothèque, Brest
Ville de Reims
Mobilier National, Paris
Musée National de Sèvres - Cité de la Céramique, Sèvres
Musée National des Manufactures des Gobelins, Paris
Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie et de l’art tissé, Aubusson
Musée de la Résistance en Argoat
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Exhibitions
Exhibitions and Fairs
2025 | L'herbe aux yeux bleus | Centre d'art et de nature, Chaumont-sur-Loire
2024 | In Case We Die | Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Saint-Denis
2024 | La mémoire des pierres | Festival Photo La Gacilly (Morbihan, France)
2024 | Art Paris Art Fair 2024 (stand H8) | Grand Palais Ephémère
2023 | a ppr oc he | Le Molière, 75004 Paris
2023 | L'Herbe aux yeux bleus | La Chambre, Strasbourg (France)
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Press