Sébastien Vonier is a sculptor based in Bordeaux, France who utilizes large-scale installation techniques to capture the tension and dialogue that exists between positive and negative space. Since completing the École des Beaux Arts de Rennes in 2001, Vonier has exhibited sculptures that serve to outline specific areas that exist between known points and borders, revealing the inspiration that he finds in landscape adventures. By subverting the art object with its opposite – the non-object – the artist reorganizes the process of looking, calling attention to the significance of experience over form.

Élevation (2008) consists of a black painted metal railing that extends both vertically and horizontally in space, capturing movement and depth with the dark line of the sculpture. Vonier transformed a specific location within the Pyrenees mountain range into an interactive installation titled Maladeta (2009) that appeared within the main room of a community sports complex located in Boé, near Agen in the Pyrenees. A vast painting, printed upon a carpet, covered the floor and reflected a geologic representation of the Spanish side of this mountainous terrain. Different colors signified various ground types, while appearing entirely flat. A wall of pastel colored pediments juxtaposed one end of this piece along with a group of suspended ropes that could assist observers in climbing and looking at Vonier’s painting from a bird’s eye point of view.

In 2002 Galerie Premier Regard hosted Sébastien Vonier’s first solo show in Paris titled Existe aussi en morceaux. In February 2011 the Palais de Tokyo exhibited Névés, a survey of Vonier’s work that centered around a cluster of three-dimensional grids of the same name. This piece in particular comprises dozens of metal bars attached to thin, white frames and serve as both physical and visual obstacles that transform the experience of the exhibition space. The artist’s previous solo show titled Préfabriqué took place in 2010 at the ACDC Gallery in Bordeaux, France. Sébastien Vonier’s proposal for an outdoor sculpture titled Relâche will appear on the campus of Laennec College at the Pont l’Abbé in 2013. His work continues to appear in group shows throughout France.

Contact Vonier via email, sebastienvonier [at] free [dot] fr