Panis
Samuel
François
Samuel François (born 1977 in Pompey, Fr) lives and works in Hettange-Grande (Fr).
His practice is shaped by investigations into the fields of landscape, narratives and/or anecdotes, and questions about the functional objects that accompany our daily lives.
He works in a wide range of media, including installation, sculpture and video. His work has been exhibited in galleries and institutions in Europe and the Un...ited States, including Berthold Pott Gallery in Cologne (2018), The Cabin in Los Angeles and The Marfa Book Company in Marfa (2015), Art-O-Rama in Marseille (2018), Galerie Michel Journiac in Paris (2017), the gardens of the Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg (2021) and the gardens of the Swedish Institute for the Nuit Blanche in Paris (2011).

2018 A Room With You, Berthold Pott, Köln (De)

2017 A.TE.W.GB.T.TS, Galerie Michel Journiac, Paris (Fr)

2015 A Room With Views, Berthold Pott, Köln (De)

2014 ASAP, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2013 The Joy of Man, Rod Barton, London (UK)

2012 10, Moulins des Thermes, Octave Cowbell, Metz (Fr)

2012 Open For Business, Alice, Brussels (B)

2012 Recent Works, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2011 No I’m WaitinG for…, Nuit Blanche Paris, Institut Suédois, Paris (Fr)

2011 Here & There, Nuit Blanche Metz, Metz (Fr)

2010 Collection, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2010 Wait&See, Cripta747, Torino (It)

2009 Zuper !, Milieu Galerie, Bern (Ch)

2009 Neu !, Centre Jacques Brel, Thionville (Fr)

2008 Let’s Get Cool, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2008 Il était une fois une fois, Alice, Brussels (B)

2007 It’s ok ?, Saarländisches Künstlerhaus, Sarrebrücken (De)

2005 Color iT, Le Trait d’Union, Neufchateau (Fr)

2005 Patterns, Galerie Octave Cowbell, Metz (Fr)

2004 Inkunstruction, CAC Niort, Niort (Fr)

2023 Léonard, Espace 54, Brussels (B)

2023 Neighbours, Rubens Castle, Zemst (B)

2022 La Pyramide de Ponzi, Galerie Valérie Delaunay, Paris (Fr)

2021 Jardin Public, Jardin de la Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin, Strasbourg (Fr)

2021 Ehrenfeld, Berthold Pott, Köln (De)

2020 HomeLand 2, Berthold Pott, Köln (De)

2019 Une île, Melissa Ansel, Brussels (B)

2019 Cherry Pickers, Podium, Luxembourg (L)

2019 Neighbours Vol.8, Riot, Gent (B)

2018 HomeLand 2, Berthold Pott, Köln (De)

2018 Une Ile, Echo des Vagues, Ile D’Yeu (F)

2018 RectoVerso, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (F)

2018 A Bureaucratic Desire For revenge, HEC Paris, (F)

2018 The Browsing Chamber, Torch Gallery, Amsterdam (H)

2017 Playlist, Erratum galerie, Berlin (De)

2017 Attitudes in Painting, Lepsien Art Foundation, Düsseldorf (De)

2017 Les Horizons Alternatifs curated by Vincent Verlé, Maison de la Région, Strasbourg (F)

2017 Quis Evadet, Le Pilori, Niort (F)

2016 A Stitch in Time Saves Nine at Wschod, Wschod Gallery (P)

2016 Warsaw Gallery Week-end curated by Wschod Gallery (P)

2016 Aujourd’hui je dis oui, curated by aujourdhui.pt, Galeria Boavista, Lisbon (P)

2016 Entre Les Lignes, Zone d’Art, Strasbourg (F)

2015 Friendly Faces curated by Middlemarch, Johannes Vogt, New-York (usa)

2015 Idéal(e) Géographie, CAC, Niort (Fr)

2015 Full House, curated by BunkClub, Shanaynay, Paris (Fr)

2015 New ideas old friends – Old friends new ideas, Milieu, Bern (Ch)

2015 EnRoute, Marfa Book Company, Marfa, Texas (usa) 2015 Bernadet, Decet, François, Platéus, The Cabin, Los-Angeles (usa)

2015 Volumes, Berthold Pott, Cologne (D)

2015 Politics oF surface, Berthold Pott, Cologne (D)

2014 Le Geste des Matériaux, CAB, Grenoble (Fr)

2014 Extra Curriculum curated by Bunk Club, Komplot, Brussels (B)

2014 Just Before Brazil, Alice, Brussels (B)

2014 Le Triangle Des Bermudes, Atelier FG, Diedendorf (Fr)

2014 An Der Schanz, Berthold Pott, Cologne (D)

2014 << < > >>, super Dakota, Brussels (B)

2014 Ce qui arrêtait ces dames, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2013 For Your Loving, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2013 Le Milieu Du Monde curated by David de Tscharner, Tourinnes-la-Grosse (B)

2013 One From None curated by Nils Emmerichs, Autocenter, Berlin (D)

2012 EpisoDe 4, Middlemarch, Brussels (B)

2012 Domesticated Souls, A.L.I.C.E., Brussels (B)

2012 Close encounters, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2012 Text Library, Trans 6, Arnhem (Nl)

2012 To France, Diplomat, Philadelphia (USA)

2012 Bartholomew, JSBJ, Steinsland Berliner, Stockholm (S)

2012 All Over, Carré Rotonde, Luxembourg (l)

2012 NothinG, Galerie Namima, Ensa, Nancy (Fr)

2011 Sleep Disorders, Centre d’art Dominique Lang, Dudelange (l)

2011 Bartholomew curated by JSBJ, 12mail, Paris (Fr)

2011 A New Idea of Landscape, Galerie Namima, Ensa, Nancy (Fr)

2011 Vertigo, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2010 Inkunstruction was …, Winterlong Galerie, le Pilori, Niort (Fr)

2010 When i grow up, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2010 Nuit Blanche, Mayenne (Fr)

2010 Scales of The UniVerse, Curated by Justin Morin, Jeanroch Dard, Paris (Fr)

2010 Playground, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (Fr)

2010 Zeichnen, Milieu Galerie, Bern (Ch)

2010 Renato Leotta – Olivier Kosta-Théfaine – Samuel François, Room Gallery, Milano (It)

2010 Dust Snow curated by Piort Lakomy, Winter Sculpture Park, Poznan (Pl) 2009 i Could Do That, Milieu Galerie, Bern (Ch) 2009 Paris-Praha, Czech Center, Paris (Fr)

2009 Observatori 2009, Atarazanas Del Grao, Valencia (E)

2009 Prix Rrobert ScHuman, Stadtmuseum simeonstift, Trier (De)

2009 Dress Code, Iselp, Brussels (B)

2009 Kilo, OctaveCowbell, Metz (Fr)

2008 Nuit Blanche, Octave Cowbell, Metz (Fr)

2008 Out oF Sth, Awangarda Gallery, Wroclaw (Pl)

2008 Zero Gravity, Galerie des Beaux-arts, Metz (Fr) 2

008 Dysfashional, muDaC, Lausanne (Ch)

2008 Manual, Kronika Galerie, Bytom (Pl)

2007 Value, Duplex, Genève (Ch)

2007 Dysfashional, Para-site, Rotonde1, Luxembourg (L)

2007 Alone in The Dark, Galerie Justin Morin, Slash 07, Brussels (B)

2007 DeDans, Espace inVitro, Thionville (Fr)

2006 Rendez-Vous Lavapies, Cruce Galerie, Madrid (E)

2006 Berlin, Château de Courcelles, Metz (Fr)

2005 Biennale De la Jeune Création, Galerie des Terreaux, Lyon (Fr)

2005 P.S. , Galerie Neurotitan, Berlin (D)

2005 Le Vent Des Forêts, Fresnes au mont (Fr)

2005 Ateliers ouverts, Castel Coucou, Forbach (Fr)

2005 Now underground, Station Centrale, Milan (It)

2004 Secret Weapon, Galerie Laura Pecci, Milan (It)

2003 CiPaC, Galerie des Beaux-a-Arts, Metz (Fr)

2003 Pim Pam Pom, Castel Coucou, Forbach (Fr)

2002 One Construction, Galerie Octave Cowbell, Metz (Fr)

2002 Fragments, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Metz (Fr)

2002 Dehors, Faux Mouvement, Metz (Fr)

2018 A Room With You, Berthold Pott, Köln (De)

2012 +4, Bibliothèque de Thionville (Fr)

2011 A new idea of landscape, Galerie Namima, ENSAD, Nancy (Fr)

2018 SummerCamp Lanton (Fr)

2017 SummerCamp Lanton-Samoens (Fr)

2016 SummerCamp Metz-Samoens (Fr)

2016 Tintange Céramique, Tintange (B)

2015 L.A Brea, Los-Angeles (usa)

2013 La Pratique, Vatan (Fr)

2011 La Pratique, Vatan. (Fr)

2010 Crypta, Turin (It).

2008-2009 Berlin, Bourse du Conseil Général de la Moselle

2005 Le Vent Des Forêts, Meuse (Fr)

« Long Distance (en) »Par Anonymous Author
The second exhibition organized under the Avant-Propos banner features a selection of works by Samuel François. A native of the former Lorraine iron and steel basin, the visual artist divides his time between a small village on the Franco-Luxembourg border and the folds of the Estérel mountains. Samuel François works with a wide range of media, including installation, sculpture and video, focusing on objects that “make history”: jeans, fishing oilskins, furniture, pocketbooks... He delegates to them their own transformation, worn by time, marked by chance, stripped of detail. His practice is built around investigations into landscape, stories and/or anecdotes, and questions the functional objects that accompany our lives. This subjective displacement and the historical charge contained in each of them raises the question of the archaeology of the object, its origin, and the temporal and cultural distortion that tends to shift the meaning of the object from functionality to decoration. On a daily basis, the same actions follow one another like so many gestures that constitute routines: crossing, observing, documenting, collecting, archiving, organizing. Moving from point A to point B, for no particular reason, not looking so as not to have to find it. Wander, drifting, taking in details, fragments, reliefs, air currents, following the trail or getting out of breath on the road. The studio space seems to be diluted in this drift. Echoes of these observations resurface or accumulate, proposing brushstrokes or vis à vis surfaces in the workspace. He thus creates singular works, in two and three dimensions, with strong references to each other and characterized by their serial aspect. Geometric distortions, errors and inaccuracies are the themes of his compositions, which are not consciously controlled, but rather result from themselves and are accepted as such. In an exhibition, a tale or story unfolds, but the plot remains undetermined. Proposing an exhibition is serious work. So is writing about an exhibition. A perilous exercise when it doesn't yet exist. 3 walls, a showcase, a door, the space at 32 rue des Bons Enfants in Rouen as a 12m2 echo of one of the artist's two workspaces. A room where works have been stored for varying lengths of time. A perforated canvas on stretcher in Berlin in 2010, a mottled loose canvas in Los Angeles in 2015, a chair sketched for Cologne in 2018. All of these forms reflect the artist's ecology and economy, as well as his relationship with his objects. For Avant Propos, the sculptures and paintings on show have gone through various states without pre-existing plans. For several years now, Samuel François seems to have nurtured a fascination for the romantic figure of the painter: he lives with a painter, he shares much of his time with painters, this medium seems to resist him, whereas he usually uses subterfuge to summon the painting object, here he sticks to the exercise of applying thin layers of paint that end up freezing a sensitive mist. And when he decides to “paint”, his habits catch up with him and he ends up perforating the colored surfaces with stretched cotton, creating openings, recurring motifs in his latest series of paintings. Samuel François manipulates things, their meaning, with joy and side-stepping. He plays with space, as when he decided to hang paintings at cat-height for the Leonardo exhibition in Brussels. Here, no cat, but three small formats that flirt with our shoes, with his worn sneakers on the floor, seeming to signify a presence and bear witness to the hundreds of thousands of steps taken in the company of his work. One thing creation can do is integrate objects into our lives, accepting their charge, their strong sentimentality, their attention, simply by declaring them art. Objects no longer become our problem, and their qualities are not definitively acquired. Long Distance is the story of a relationship with forms that stretches over more than ten years. Samuel François raises questions such as: where does a space begin and end; what are the relationships between points of view, ideas and perspectives; what is the relationship between surface and volume; and plays with the viewer's physical perspective and mental perception of a place.
« Because the sun is yellow (en) »Par Elisa Rigoulet, Exo Exo

"Samuel François focuses on objects that " produce history " - jeans, survival blankets, fishing oilskins - and delegates to them their own transformation, marked by time and circumstance. Like paintings, it is the objects themselves, in their imprints, that proceed by strokes, almost becoming their sole visual and physical referent. These paintings, freed from their role as surfaces, can be turned in all directions, revealing their flipside. This subjective displacement and the historical charge contained in each of them raises the question of the archaeology of the object, of its origin, and of the temporal and cultural distortion that tends to shift the meaning of the object from functionality to decoration. What role would we attribute to this yellow, plastic, smooth, waterproof material if we were suddenly freed from what we know?"

Extract from "Because the sun is yellow » by Elisa Rigoulet