Alain Lambilliotte 

Deconstructionist Undulation

Trained at the School of Fine Arts in Montpellier, Alain Lambilliotte began developing a unique body of work in the 1970s, which lies beyond the traditionally hierarchical fine arts classifications (drawing, painting and sculpture), and also transcends the ones defining contemporary art currents since the 1970s.

Actively reconsidering major issues in contemporary art for the last forty years, Alain Lambilliotte has liberated himself from the existing framework of references, while at the same participating in avant-garde deconstructionism, epitomized by the leading figures of the Supports/Surfaces group in France. In his ostensibly deconstructivist and particularly bold work, Alain Lambilliotte pushes his thinking and his work as a painter to the limits, exploring the subtle boundaries between drawing, painting, and sculpture, or even beyond as he approaches ornamental artifacts.  

Danielle Molinari described his work as "Singular, audacious, surprising, inventive, mixing rigor and fantasy...". (1)

Indeed, his work on Arches paper in 1988 up to his 2019 assemblages, form an undulating line of exploration. An undulating line that became the hallmark and style of Alain Lambilliotte’s art.  

From the years 1995 to 2019, this alternating line took shape through color and personalization. Thanks to this chromatic undulation, he acknowledged his artistic lineage to Matisse's cut-outs, and the Matissian approach as expressed by Henri Matisse's famous words  "...I draw directly in color...". Alain Lambilliotte made this more radical by creating "...sculpture so fragile that it needs color to assert itself".

 The series also shows a subtle, intimate relationship between the decorative arts and painting. The distinctions between decorative art and fine art are thus dispelled.

The series of twenty 260 x 80 cm acrylic and dry chalk imprints on canvas from 2017 to 2018, and the 256 x 380 cm triptych from 2019, are reminiscent of Claude Monet’s Haystacks, Rouen Cathedrals, and Water Lilies series. Humble gestures, a painter's sense of pictorialism, the notion of time in the artistic creation of series, are among the many important questions addressed by Alain Lambilliotte.  

Found in many private and institutional collections, including the collections of the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, and the Saint-Étienne Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Lambilliotte’s art also entered the large collections of Musée Ziem in Martigues in May 2000. His artistic journey has been presented at many contemporary art events and exhibitions in France and Germany. In addition to media coverage and numerous articles on his work, Alain Lambilliotte above all prefers the silence and high standards of studio work in order "to delve into the mysterious power of painting and to reveal, most often with total simplicity, its astonishing magic...". (2)

Galerie Bessières presents a significant selection of works to its initiated art audience after the major retrospective ‘Allain Lambillotte - Between the Lines’ (Alain Lambilliotte - Entre les lignes), at Musée Ziem, Martigues, and in Arles, October 2019 - 2 February 2020.

                                                              Jean-Claude THEVENIN 

1-2    Danielle Molinari, Honorary General Curator of Heritage, June 2019 

Excerpts from the catalogue of the retrospective exhibition Alain Lambilliotte. Entre les lignes, Musée Ziem, Martigues, October 2019 - February 2020. Exhibition curators: Alain Lambilliotte, Lucienne Del'Furia, Chief Curator of Heritage, Director of Musée Ziem.

Collections :

Musée National d'Art Moderne-Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris
Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris
Fonds national d'art contemporain Paris
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne Saint EtienneFRAC Haute Normandie
Musée Ziem, MartiguesFondation Schwenk-Haigerloch Tubingen, Allemagne
Fondation Whanki, New York, USA
Collection de la ville de Balingen RFA
Collection, de la Ville de Choisy-Le-Roi
Collection de la Ville d'Ivry-sur-seine

Solo Show

2019/ 2020 Rétrospective Musée Ziem Martigues/ Arles archevêché/ travail in situ, Alyscamps                                                            2016
Chapelle du Carmel, Chalons-sur-Saône
2015
MACC, Fresnes
2010
Le 19, Centre régional d'art contemporain, Montbéliard
2006
MFI, Paris
Bibliothèque, Choisy-Le-Roi
Chapelle Saint-Julien, Petit-Quevilly
2005
Galerie Andrée Macé, Paris
2002
Maison d'art contemporain Chaillioux, Fresnes
1997
Galerie Dialogue, Paris
1994
Centre d'Art D'Ivry, Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry-sur-seine
1993

Group Show :

2017
Musée Ziem, Martigues
2014
Dans les chambres hantées de Gilbert Lascault, Musée de l'Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun
2012
ARAMIS Collectionneurs , MACC, Fresnes
2009
Jeune sculpture contemporaine, Andrésy sur Seine
2007
Orthodoxes - Hétérodoxes: choisir sa ligne, Le 19,Crac, Montbéliard
2001
Oeuvres d'arbres, Musée des beaux-arts de Pau
1998
Art Brussels , Galerie Marwan Hoss, Bruxelles, Belgique
1996
Petits et grands papiers d'art contemporain, (collection Charles-Eric Siméoni), Musée Ziem, Martigues
1995
Petits formats - grandes oeuvres, Galerie Marwan Hoss, Paris
"oeuvres sur papier", Galerie Pierre Birtschansky, Paris
L'Orangerie à Grande-Couronne, Aspect de l'art contemporain haut-normand
1992
Singularités, Galerie Marwan Hoss, Paris
Les Etats du Noir, Galerie Lambert-Rouland, Paris
1991
Du dessin ?, Galerie Lambert-Rouland Paris
1989
Acquisitions du FNAC, Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris
FRAC Haute Normandie, Hôtel de Région, Rouen, Morceaux choisis 1,
Conseil Général de Haute Normandie, Morceaux choisis
Palais Bénédictine, Fécamp, Les matériaux
1988
Kunstlers 7+7, Schloss von Faber-Castell, Stein, RFA
1987
Fondation Whanki, New York, USA
La Collection Whanki, Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris
Le CREDAC hors les murs, BNP, Ivry sur Seine
1986
7+7 artistes, CREDAC, Ivry-sur-Seine
1985
Galerie Feeling, Paris
Chateau du champ de bataille au Neubourg, Au coeur des arts
1984
Musée Paul Valéry, Sète
1983
Intervention sur 5 colonnes , Eglise St Pierre-St Paul Montreuil
1981
Galerie Déclinaisons, Rouen
1980
Galerie Athanor, Marseille
1979
Galerie Katia Pissaro, Paris
Galerie Déclinaisons, Rouen
1978
Peintres et sculpteurs d'aujourd'hui, Hôtel de Ville Paris
Impact III, Musée d'art et d'industrie, Saint-Etienne
1977
Travaux sur papier, Centre Culturel Villeparisis
Travaux-Paris 77, ARC 2, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1976
Cité internationale des arts, Paris
1975