Exhibition from March 18 to May 7, 2016 – Opening March 17 mars from 6 P.M.
Rue des Bains 61, 1205 Geneva
The Galerie Xippas in Geneva is delighted to present, for the first time, an exhibition by the Swiss artist Stéphane Dafflon. As a continuation of his previous exhibitions Turnaround at the Mamco (2009) and Up and Down at Air de Paris Gallery (2008), the exhibition Turnover displays a journey in five stops, five canvases revealing the trip of a triangle overturning.
Stéphane Dafflon’s paintings are simple at first glance, strangely smooth, however perfectly mastered. Made of geometric and abstract shapes with sharp contours and primary colors, his artworks question first by their effective sobriety. Then, when getting closer, shapes blur, some angles become round and some points progressively unravel. Stéphane Dafflon distorts the line, shifts the alignment, granting a vibratory power to his canvases, which resonates within the space where it is situated.
First created with a computer, Stéphane Dafflon’s artworks, when transcribed onto a canvas or a wall, reveal themselves in their environment. To answer to the Xippas Gallery’s invitation, the artist created five new canvases specially made for the new space of the gallery situated Rue des Bains. Confronted to this brand new space looking like a “white cube”, the artist contradicts with triangles. Returned, on the side, perfectly straight, melted and merged with others, the triangle jump from canvas to canvas guiding the visitor. The triangle’s turnover interferes with the wandering in the squared room, leaving the visitor a little bit stunned.
Therefore, Stéphane Dafflon’s work needs to be felt, heard; it is a real-life experience. The many physical sensations that the artist wishes to provoke on the spectator in the way, for instance, of music and its vibrations by which he is inspired. As a mather of fact, the Swiss artist intermixes a lot of different influences. From the concrete art and the minimalism in the shapes and the colors, including graphic design in the computer- aided process of creation, its paintings could be considered as well as « design painted » as of monochrome.
Stéphane Dafflon was born in 1972 in Neyruz, Switzerland. He lives and works in Geneva. After graduating from the Cantonal School of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL) in 1999, he started teaching at this same school from 2001. Among his personal exhibitions: DEUTERANOPIA at Joy de Rouvre Gallery in Carouge, Switzerland (2015), Swing at Air de Paris Gallery in Paris (2013), at Fri-Art, Fribourg Art Center (2011), Turnaround at Mamco in Geneva (2009), Statik Dancin’ at Frac Aquitaine in France (2007), Aller-Retour at the Swiss Cultural Center in Paris (2006) and Instant Pleasure at Francesca Pia Gallery in Zurich (2005).
His work has also been shown at Algus Greenspon Gallery in New York (2015), at Musée Jenisch in Vevey and Musée Rath in Geneva (2015), at Ulm Kunsthalle Weishaupt in Germany (2014), to name a few. In 2016, his artworks would also be presented at Lucerne Kunstmuseum for the group show named Collectionneurs.
