matisse
mesnil
Born in 1989, Matisse Mesnil is an artist who lives and works in Paris.
He often travels to Italy, his native country. He began his career as a set designer in the film industry, a background that still permeates much of his work today. His Italian origins are evident in his work, which shows popular iconography and unfolds a world inspired by his wanderings through the streets. Buildings, their ornaments, washing hung from balconies… are all motifs that attract the artist’s attention. His treatment of these subjects brings into dialogue not only the notions of nature and culture, but also those of setting and landscape.
Matisse Mesnil conducts experimental artistic research, challenging Alberti’s concept of painting as a “window on the world“. He focuses on the frame, inspired by his experience as a photographer which led him to observe the world through a more restricted frame: that of the lens. The frame is also a form of opening in our everyday experience.
The artist explores metalwork, seeing in it an intense “pictoriality”. For him, the marks on the metal are like scars, witnesses to the artist-object interaction. Using industrial processes such as welding or grinding, Matisse Mesnil revisits landscape and still life.
His recent creations aim to interact with the viewer and the environment, creating genuine mise-en-scènes. The contrast between the industrial technique and the delicate subjects intrigues and challenges viewers.
education
2003-2008
Liceo Artistico Bruno Munari, Vittorio Veneto, Italy
artist residencies
2025
Kyana, Athens, Greece
La Chapelle Saint-Antoine, Naxos, Greece
solo exhibitions
2025
Self-Service Writing, Centre Pompidou, Metz, France
2024
SOPRAVVIVO, Pal Project, Paris, France
2022
ICONOCRASH, Gate44, Milano, Italy
2021
Fractura, Poush Manifesto, Paris, France
Seafoam, Spaziomensa, Roma, Italy
2020
Solution des contraires, 35fsd, Paris, France
2018
Chassés/croisés, avec l’écrivain Oscar Coop-Phane, Galerie MR14, Paris, France
2017
Tracce, Galerie Chappe, Paris, France
collective exhibitions
2025
Lisboa Não Sejas Francesa Pt.2, Galeria Foco, Lisbonne, Portugal
Surface, Grand Tour, Paris, France
L’Art du Temps Libre, Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Grasse, France
Le cose che non sappiamo, Galerie Romero Paprocki, Paris, Frace
Au milieu de l’hiver J’ai découvert en moi un invisible été, Double V Gallery, Paris/Marseille, France
2024
Exposition collective, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Porto, Portugal
Revenir du présent, Commissaires Y. Kruger et S. Ibars
Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Collection Vol. 1, Sira, Paris, France
A Brief Escape, Le17Studiolo, Paris, France
Ghost Town, Double V Gallery, Paris, France
Augmented Paris: The New International Art Scene, Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu, China
Empreinte, Galerie John Ferrere, Paris, France
Leaning Glass, Galerie John Ferrere, Paris, France
On Donne du Grain aux Poules, Galerie John Ferrere, Paris, France
Le Poids de l’Invisible, Pal Project, Paris, France
Passions Partagées – Mucem, Marseille, France
21x29,7, Galerie Sébastien Lepeuve, Clichy, France
2023
Panel Rose, Galerie Dumonteil, Paris, France
The ghost between the guest and the host, Gia & Gia Office, Paris, France
2022
Les échos d’un temps lointain arrivent en sifflant sur le sable, Poush, Paris, France
OnAbstraction, Poush, Paris, France