Malo Chapuy

The images that animated the places of worship and palaces of the late Middle Ages and the Western Renaissance have crossed the centuries to land in the works of Malo Chapuy. As a student at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, the young artist first studied the figures of the High Middle Ages. The forms taken from medieval manuscripts and religious art were gradually transformed under his hand, to follow an evolution similar to the one that was experienced by Western artistic production at the time of the transition from the flamboyant Gothic to the early Renaissance. At first, his artistic production focused on the image-objects as they existed in the Middle Ages, leading him to assemble ancient techniques with forms very familiar to his contemporaries (motorcycle helmets, branded shoes…) to make anachronistic relics.

Particularly sensitive to this concept of anachronism and having recently made a return to painting, Malo Chapuy cohabits within the same pictorial space characters drawn from the renaissance repertoire with buildings inspired by modern and functionalist architecture. In this way, he seeks to highlight the discrepancy specific to the artistic field today, which is found, for example, in the integration of works formerly assimilated to the religious cult within the smooth scenographies of museums. His work on pictorial anachronism is notably inspired by the creations of the Belgian Wim Delvoye and the French Laurent Pernot, who are also sensitive to this encounter between historical forms.

If religious images are omnipresent in Malo Chapuy’s work, they are first and foremost the manifestation of an aesthetic fascination since the painter seeks above all to adopt the eye and technique of a 14th century painter. Thus, it is in a very subtle way that Malo Chapuy treats the architectural buildings in his painting so that, in spite of their modern appearance, the pictorial treatment and the perspective of the composition engage the spectator to imagine from the first approach a scene historically anchored in these ancient centuries before realizing his error.

In June 2022, Malo Chapuy was awarded the Agnès B prize by the Friends of the Beaux-Arts de Paris, which aims to associate a future graduate of the school with a cultural benefactor.

Will be presented at Private Choice 2022 : a selection of paintings