Vernissage Zurich: Claude Villat – Recent Works

It is the ever-repeating motif that defines the work of French artist Claude Viallat.

Born in 1936, Viallat is one of the co-founders of the avant-garde movement Supports/Surfaces, which emerged in France in the early 1970s. This movement questioned the traditional elements of painting and championed both art-theoretical and political positions. It called for a new approach to art – one that challenged the conventional materials of painting, namely canvas and stretcher frames.

Viallat began working on industrial tarpaulins, repetitively applying the same motif to these textiles using a stencil. This abstract motif became his unmistakable artistic signature. Over time, he expanded beyond industrial tarpaulins and began using everyday fabrics as “canvases,” such as bed sheets, curtains, or kitchen aprons.

The exhibition Claude Viallat – Recent Works presents Viallat’s latest pieces, for which he has used a wide variety of textiles, from coffee bean sacks to parasols. The result is a diverse, colourful oeuvre – always featuring his distinctive and consistent motif.

Claude Viallat’s works are represented in many international museums and collections, such as the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Buenos Aires (Argentina), MoMA in New York City (USA), the Centre Pompidou in Paris (France), the Musée des Beaux- Arts in Montreal (Canada), and the National Museum of Art in Osaka (Japan). He has also represented France twice at the Venice Biennale. Galerie Andres Thalmann is delighted to present the third solo exhibition by Claude Viallat at our Talstrasse location.