Marion Charlet’s art is driven by an imaginary that crosses reality in powerful compositions, whose primary function is to assert an aesthetic where colour is both the pretext and the text. Working from photographs that she takes herself and then modifies on her computer, the artist firstly created a world of original landscapes and interiors, most often architectural, surroundedby profuse vegetation, and devoid of all human presence.
Colour is the driving factor in how Charlet constructs each of her paintings and watercolours, bringing the motif to the fullness of its form. The skillful combination of intensity, transparency and opacity give the painted image its depth, its rhythm, its breath, the artist playing sometimes with empty space, sometimes with full… here an intrusion, while there a screen. (Philippe Piguet)
Marion Charlet was born in Paris in 1982. After graduating from the École des Beaux-Arts, the Villa Arson (Nice), the Chelsea College of Art and Design (London) and the Institut Supérieur des Art Appliqués (Paris), she currently lives and works in Paris. She was the winner of the Prix Art [ ] Collector in 2018 and the Prix de la Fondation Colas in 2016.
Born in Paris in 1982
Lives and works in Paris
EDUCATION
2009 High Degree, School of Fine Art, Villa Arson, Nice, France
2008 Chelsea College of Art and Design, Erasmus exchange, London, UK
2005 Graphic Design, Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués LISAA, Paris, France
SOLO / DUO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Hic et Nuc, Cuturi Gallery, Singapore
2024
Gourmandes Vanités, PARIS-B, Paris, France
2023
Sloth is no Capital Sin, Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach, Bruxelles, Belgique
2021
Focus : Marion Charlet – L’ETE NE MOURRA PAS, La Patinoire Royale, Galerie Valérie Bach, Bruxelles, Belgique
2020
Marion Charlet – David Hockney – De la couleur avant toute chose, La Chapelle de la Visitation, Thonon-les-Bains, France
… Et l’été reviendra, Galerie PARIS-B, Paris, France
2018
Eden, La Patinoire Royale / Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, Belgium
Là-bas, Patio Opéra, Art [ ] Collector, curated by Philippe Piguet, Paris, France
Drawing Now, Galerie Virginie Louvet, Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
2017
Impressions, Galerie Virginie Louvet, Paris, France
2015
As Long as it lasts, Galerie Virginie Louvet, Paris, France
2014
Peinture, Galerie d’Art de Créteil, France
2010
Happy Blue…, Galerie Premier Regard, Paris, France
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Luxe, Calme et volupté, curated by Amélie Adamo and Hanna Baudet, Centre d’art La Malmaison, Cannes, France
2023
IMMORTELLE, commissariat général Numa Hambursin, MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier, France
Family & Friends, Backslash Gallery, Paris, France
2021
L’ENFER, Galerie Sabine Bayasli, Paris, France
Here, There, Somewhere, Galerie PARIS-B, Paris, France
Un goût de vacances, des saveurs d’été, CAC Meymac, Meymac, France
Accrocher l’été, Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, Belgium
2019
Twenty Five Elements, Espace Commines, Paris, France
2018
La Petite Collection, Galerie Bertrand Grimont, Paris, France
2017
Le Vent Souffle Où Il Veut, Galerie Françoise Besson, Lyon, France
Drawing Now, Galerie Virginie Louvet, Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
Peindre, Dit-Elle (Chap.2), curated by Amélie Lavin, Julie Crenn and Annabelle Ténèze, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole, Dole, France
2016
Art Contest, (nommée Prix Art Contest), ADAM Museum, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Peindre, Dit-Elle, curated by Julie Crenn and Annabelle Ténèze, Musée départemental d’Art Contemporainde Rochechouart, France
Vendange Tardive, CAC Meymac, Meymac, France
Furiosités, commissariat Julie Crenn, Galerie Frédéric Lacroix, Paris, France
Dépendances, Galerie Crash, Lille, France
Prix Antoine Marin, Galerie Julio Gonzalez, Arcueil, France
Le Kabinet Du Dessin, Brussels, Belgium
2014
Cosmic Players, Galerie Martine et Thibault de la Châtre, Paris, France
Overline III, Prieuré Saint-Nicolas, Les Sables d’Olonne, France
Salon Du Dessin Contemporain, Centre Madeleine, Lille, France
2013
Novembre A Vitry, Galerie municipale Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
Le Jardin Des Delices, le Kabinet, Brussels, Belgium
Shipping Paradise, avec le collectif Frenchfries, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2012
Novembre A Vitry, Galerie municipale Jean Collet, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
Oui A La Peinture / Yes To Painting, 6 Peintres Français A L’honneur, Maison Tajan, Paris, France
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2018
Winner of Art [ ] Collector, Paris, France
2016
WInner of Fondation Colas Prize, France
2015
Residency Chamalot, Moustier-Ventadour, France
Nominated by the prize Antoine Marin, Arcueil, France
2013
Cité Internationale des Arts with FrenchFries collective, Paris, France
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2020
Marion Charlet – David Hockney – De la couleur avant toute chose, catalog Semaine, April
Les rêves éveillés de Marion Charlet, texte d’Elizabeth Vedrenne, Connaissance des arts, April, #791
2018
Là-bas, exhibition catalog
Les paysages magnétiques de Marion Charlet, text by Gabrielle Gauthier, Arts Magazine, October-November
Marion Charlet, l’Eden concentrationnaire, texte de Guy GILSOUL, le Vif, January
2017
Marion Charlet, Art [ ] Collector Gagnante du prix, text by Marie de la Fresnaye, Mooogli.com Text by Daniel Guionnet et Valérie Toubas, Point Contemporain
Text by Guillaume Benoit, Slash magazine
Peindre, dit-elle (chap.2), exhibition catalog
2016
Art Contest, exhibition catalog
Marion Charlet : Jeux d’artifices, text by Benjamin Defossez, Lemon Lemag #6, April-May
2015
Vous entrez dans un temps suspendu, text by Pauline de la Boulaye
Focus artiste, interview par Solène Ducasse, TCQVAR #66
Qui sont les peintres de demain?, text by Philippe Piguet, l’Oeil #676
Résidence d’artiste, Design @Home magazine
Une peinture, des femmes, text by Yann le Chevalier, Parcours des arts #44
2014
Marion Charlet // À l’abri des phanstasmes, text by Julie Crenn, revue inferno
2013
Du cliché et de la création, text by Jean Louis Poitevin, revue inferno
Frenchfries // live ans exotes, text by Julie Crenn
2012
Oui à la peinture, Yes to painting, exhibition catalog
2011
Les peintures de Marion Charlet déterminent des lieux entre nature et artifice, text by Marc Desgrandchamps
COLLECTIONS
FRAC-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Fondation Colas, France
Fondation Velux, Danemark
Ministère des affaires étrangères, France
Le musée du chat, Belgium
COMMISSION
2021-2022
Mural installation at Drawing Hotel, Paris, France
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MARION CHARLET
GOURMANDES VANITÉS
04/27/2024 - 06/15/2024 -
Marion Charlet
… Et l’été reviendra.
11/05/2020 - 01/16/2021
Marion Charlet, Interview at Galerie Paris-Beijing. Video by Pierre Douaire.
Frac-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine - 1 ARTISTE 1 ŒUVRE, Marion Charlet parle de son œuvre "Félicité"
Marion Charlet – David Hockney, de la couleur avant toute chose
– By Philippe Piguet
The art of Marion Charlet requires an imagination that can grasp pieces of reality through powerful compositions in which colors are both the pretext and the text. The artist works with photographs that she takes herself and then edits on her computer as she sees fit. She first started to create a world made of landscapes and unique architectural interiors that are often overrun by a profuse vegetation and deprived of any human presence. As she adds many different viewpoints and plays with our perception of spaces, she creates a confusing, disorienting environment which draws our eyes into a visually festive universe. Then arrives a figure that finds its place in games of anonymous silhouettes, isolated or part of a group, pending in undefined spaces, predominantly opaline blue, between appearance and disappearance. Somewhat syncopated dancing figures allowing for colors to be part of a choreography, animated by the movement of a printed fabric that subtly bears the image of past landscapes – Ciao series (2019-2020).
In Charlet’s work, it’s the colors that determine the layout of each of her paintings and watercolors, and therefore complete the pattern. The right dosage of their intensity, the quality of their transparency and opacity give the painting depth, rhythm and breathing as the artist plays with emptiness and fulness, refraction and screen. Something seductive is at play in her work which lures the viewer as into a trap that once discovered cannot be escaped. According to the words of the poet, luxury, calmness and delight reign over her work and create resting places out of the views of the open sea – Far Away From Calais (2016) -, of the greenhouse-looking cottage – Soledad (2015) – of this floating boat – Before Session (2019). The light shines everywhere, blissfully, in a silent pause. One feels at peace with no intention to leave.
What explains it? Firstly, perhaps the fact that during her training years, Marion Charlet – who was born in Paris in 1982 – spent a year in England, studying at the Chelsea College of Art, in an environment that was ignoring the supposedly end of painting. This environment was free from any strict tutelage and let the young painters give in to passion – in her own words – for “painting, subject and color”. Secondly, it is due to her capacity to wonder even paired with her critical mind which allows her to be perceptive and doubtful – both qualities necessary not no get overwhelmed by your work. To finish, there is within her a will to be objective, to distance herself from reality which is confirmed by her smooth and diligent style. Charlet’s work does not impose itself on you but rather invites you in.
Her works displayed in Thonon allow her to experience it though two distinct scales: on the one hand, large-scale paintings – including both landscapes and figures – whose virtual size expands beyond the frames, literally embracing the space around; on the other hand, the series named Gateways(2016-2018), small-scale paintings that she uses to explore all sorts of patterns and details. In all, the experience resembles the one on a ship “when you switch from a deck view to a porthole” as the artist said. Space and color, these are the cornerstones of Marion Charlet’s art.
Extrait from the presse release of the duo exhibition “Marion Charlet – David Hockney, De la couleur avant toute chose”, June 26th – September 26th 2020 à La Chapelle de la Visitation, Thonon-Les-Bains,France. Curated by Philippe Piguet, art critic and curator.