Alexis Ralaivao joins Kasmin
-
-
Kasmin is delighted to welcome Alexis Ralaivao (b. 1991, France) to the gallery. To celebrate the announcement, two new paintings by the artist will be featured in our Art Basel Hong Kong presentation from March 28–30. The artist’s first exhibition at Kasmin went on view at the gallery’s 297 Tenth Avenue space in June 2023.
Ralaivao’s sensual and diaristic oil paintings find affective charge in carefully selected quotidian scenes. Reimagining the Northern European tradition of genre painting, Ralaivao seamlessly synthesizes the techniques and attentive gaze of Dutch Golden Age painters—Johannes Vermeer and Gerard Ter Borch among them—while remaining rooted in our contemporary society. “I start with a scene from everyday life, ordinary intimate moments,” the artist has said. “But as I sketch and paint them, they become something more. Layers after layers, what was the ‘truth’ is mixed with my personal feelings, desires and fantasies.” Using classical painterly techniques, Ralaivao’s sensitive encapsulations of his subjects’ daily routines possess a timeless humanity and immediacy. His works deftly synthesize wide-reaching cultural reference points, drawing from his ongoing, intensive autodidactic studies of the history of painting and composition, the language of photography, antiques, and French literature. With a deep understanding and appreciation of the artistic allusions in his work, Ralaivao firmly establishes himself in the lineage of painting’s masters and mavericks.
Eric Gleason, Head of Sales at Kasmin, says: “Alexis' painting practice is one of the most genuine, sincere and thoughtful that I have encountered within his generation. His obsession with the history of painting is unwavering, his technical facility impressive, and his commitment to the studio inspiring. Our collaboration has been a true pleasure from the outset and Kasmin is honored to be Alexis' representing gallery going forward."
-
Blending an impressionistic soft-focus with strategic photographic framing, Ralaivao’s distinctive crops both invite and refuse. The artist’s early works explore the pleasure of the domestic space, animating a cinematographer’s eye for drama and detail by lingering on the drapery of clothing or bed linens—the soft contours of the fabric alluding to flesh—along with informal portraits and partial nudes in repose. More recently, the artist has probed the language of luxury and its environs, honing in on glimpses of fine-dining, formalwear and other items to mine themes of consumerism and social exclusion. Rich textures such as flesh, hair, and cloth have become hallmarks of his paintings, but Ralaivao’s keen explorations into the formal qualities and aesthetic value of light have also captured the visual thrill of reflective materials such as patent leather, metal, and glassware—subjects with which the artist can demonstrate an instinctive touch for light’s technical representation. By building thinly layered brushstrokes and a respective luminosity, the artist imbues his painterly universe with a dreamlike quality.
Ralaivao lives and works in his home city of Rennes, France, after spending several years in Berlin. In 2022, he was profiled in The Artsy Vanguard. His work is held in institutional collections in the United States and abroad, including the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Musée des Beaux Arts de Rennes, France; Powerlong Museum, Shanghai, China; and the He Art Museum, China.
Portrait above: Rosa Lacavalla
-
Join our Newsletter
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.
-
Explore
-
Exhibitions
Ian Davenport: Tides
October 30 – December 20, 2024 509 West 27th Street, New YorkIan Davenport’s latest works expand his series of poured acrylic paintings that spill across the gallery floor, employing the signature technique that defined the artist’s recent architectural interventions across Europe, namely in the Giardini at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017) and at the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome (2022-23). The exhibition also introduces metallic paint into Davenport’s artistic vocabulary, deepening the artist’s engagement with the colors and materials of Italian Renaissance painting. -
Exhibitions
Elliott Puckette: Unfolding
October 30 – December 20, 2024 297 Tenth Avenue, New YorkThe artist's eleventh solo exhibition at the gallery features a suite of new paintings and bronze sculptures that expand upon the artist’s signature visual exploration of the line as a formal device to realize her atmospheric abstractions. -
Exhibitions
Julie Hamisky: Transference
October 30 – December 20, 2024 514 West 28th Street, New YorkImmortalizing the most intricate details of the natural world, Julie Hamisky continues to garner international recognition for her rigorous electroplating technique that belies the ephemeral forces of nature. In freestanding sculptures, mirrors, chandeliers, and fine jewelry, Hamisky’s transformative approach to casting organic matter preserves fleeting moments in time.
-
-
Explore
- Diana Al-Hadid
- Alma Allen
- Theodora Allen
- Sara Anstis
- Ali Banisadr
- Tina Barney
- Judith Bernstein
- JB Blunk
- Mattia Bonetti
- William N. Copley
- Cynthia Daignault
- Ian Davenport
- Max Ernst
- Liam Everett
- Leonor Fini
- Barry Flanagan
- Walton Ford
- Jane Freilicher
- vanessa german
- Daniel Gordon
- Alexander Harrison
- Elliott Hundley
- Lee Krasner
- Les Lalanne
- Matvey Levenstein
- Lyn Liu
- Robert Motherwell
- Jamie Nares
- Nengi Omuku
- Robert Polidori
- Jackson Pollock
- Elliott Puckette
- Alexis Ralaivao
- George Rickey
- James Rosenquist
- Mark Ryden
- Jan-Ole Schiemann
- Joel Shapiro
- Bosco Sodi
- Dorothea Tanning
- Naama Tsabar
- Bernar Venet
Kasmin Sculpture Garden
New York
On view from The High Line at 27th Street
Monday–Sunday, 7am-11pm
+1 212 563 4474
info@kasmingallery.com
This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.