Franck Chalendard

“For the past twenty-five years, Franck Chalendard’s painting has been characterised by its ability to permanently reinvent itself and mutate, to the point where it baffles both critics and the art market. Consistency, coherence, and in-depth exploration are similar categories generally considered as positive, but which always threaten to tip over into their perverted and sterile tendencies: repetition, systematisation, and trademarking. Frank Chalendard’s painting evades this risk of being reduced to a single image used as a sign of recognition, in that it experiments with all sorts of possible approaches, if not for the one permanent feature – both a starting point and a horizon – of working within the framework of the canvas.” […]

Excerpt from Karim Ghaddab, “Poursuivre le tableau”, in Franck Chalendard, Collection Modernes, Ceysson Art Edition, Saint-Etienne, 2016.
Translated by Lucy Pons

“Painting is a presence. There is something archaic, brutal, and direct in the act of painting, of tracing. I am attached to this experience and to the decisions one must make on the spot, while the painting is still wet, still open; to the traces the hand leaves as it follows the impulses of the psyche. In no other artistic medium are traces so intimately and permanently linked to the movements of the body. They are, beyond mere representation, a form of direct language. As in a live performance, it is a field for immediate experimentation, albeit in the confined space of the studio. I am not trying to illustrate anything. To me, a picture is something the body experiences to signify the presence of painting. Then again, I don’t think it has anything to do with the sublime or with metaphysical verticality.” […]

Excerpt from “Elles ne parlent que de ça”, interview with Anne Favier, in Franck Chalendard, Collection Modernes, Art Ceysson Edition, Saint-Etienne, 2016.
Translated by Lucy Pons