Lionel Estève (born July 30, 1967) is a French artist sculptor recognized for his work grounded in geometric abstraction and kinetic art. His work deals with the boundaries of human perception and connection between man and nature. Since the late-1990s, his work has been exhibited widely, most notably at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and MOMA

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York. In 2020, Estève published his first autobiographical story entitled ''Mourir''. Estève studied at

École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon The École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon is a school of art and design in Lyon, located in Les Subsistances, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. It is part of the École des Beaux-Arts tradition, ...

and Philologie Romane at the

Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions * Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970 *Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...

. He lives and works in Brussels and Southeastern France.

Work

Estève is defines all his work as a sculpture. His work is both figurative and abstract and is generally inspired after motifs found in the

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...

or through the experience of

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

and

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

. His signature sculptures are playful and show clear affinities with kinetic art and the

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or ...

movement. The elements of movement in the work of Estève unquestionably refers to the work of classics such as Jan Schoonhoven and Walter Leblanc in which the flat surface gives rise to visual illusions and transient effects. In his work, he often emphasizes space through, among other things, mobiles in colored plexiglass or fine mesh in steel wire. His light colorful structures often vibrate and are often sensual. He experiments with various materials and handcrafted techniques to create works that include different forms of art:

collages Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an Assemblage (art), assemblage of different forms, thus creat ...

assemblage (art) Assemblage is an artistic form or medium usually created on a defined substrate that consists of three-dimensional elements projecting out of or from the substrate. It is similar to collage, a two-dimensional medium. It is part of the visual ar ...

, sculptures, kinetic art sculptures, and

mobile (sculpture) A mobile (,) is a type of kinetic sculpture constructed to take advantage of the principle of equilibrium. It consists of a number of rods, from which weighted objects or further rods hang. The objects hanging from the rods balance each other, ...

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Estève has been the focus of several solo and retrospectives exhibitions at various international institutions, including ''Lionel Estève: Le ventre de la terre'' at the Musée du Verre in Charleroi (Marcinelle) in 2017;. ''Lionel Estève: Poussières urbaines et sculptures plates'' at Espace 251 Nord (La Comète) in Liege in 2016; ''Lionel Estève; Un nuage sur mes épaules'' at the Blueproject Foundation in Barcelona in 2015; ''Lionel Estève; Rétrospective'' at De La Charge in Brussels in 2015; ''Lionel Estève; Vivre en pensée'' at Les Eglises, centre d'art contemporain de la ville de Chelles in Chelles in 2015; ''Lionel Estève; Teenagers are Always Right'' at the Château de Vert Mont in Rueil-Malmaison in 2010; ''Lionel Estève: Lucky Colors'' at

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...

in Las Vegas in 2009; ''Lionel Estève: I can talk to my cat / Thinking what others are thinking'' at the

Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels The Centre for Fine Arts (french: Palais des Beaux-Arts, nl, Paleis voor Schone Kunsten) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or PSK in Dutch. The b ...

in 2008; ''Lionel Estève'' at the De Vereniging DD, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle in Belgium in 2008; ''Lionel Estève: Fleurs de Rocailles'' at the Herzliya Museum of Art in Herzliya (Israel) in 2006; ''Migrateurs: Lionel Estève'', curated by

Hans-Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

and directed by

Suzanne Pagé Suzanne Pagé (born in 1941 in Brittany) is a French curator and museum director. She is currently the artistic director of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation in Paris. Career Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris In 1973 Pagé began ...

et Laurence Bossé at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris in 2003.

Group exhibitions

Estève's work has been included in various group exhibitions in institutions and museums internationally. In 1998, he was invited to show at Centre Culturel de Belem in Lisbon in the exhibition ''O fascínio das faces da Flandres, 58/98: duas horas de viagem para duas de tamanho''. The exhibition traveled to Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp and included work by, amongst others,

Marcel Broodthaers Marcel Broodthaers (28 January 1924 – 28 January 1976) was a Belgian poet, filmmaker, and visual artist with a highly literate and often witty approach to creating art works. In 1943-1951 he was a member of a Communist party. Life and career ...

, Jan Vercruysse, and

Luc Tuymans Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a Belgian visual artist best known for his paintings which explore people's relationship with history and confront their ability to ignore it. World War II is a recurring theme in his work. He is a key figure ...

. In 1999 he participated in Antwerp in the Laboratorium (art exhibition), curated by

and Barbara Vanderlinden, and in 1999 he participated in the survey exhibition ''Generation Z'', curated by

Klaus Biesenbach Klaus Biesenbach (born 1966)Erica Orden (December 26, 2009)Herr Zeitgeist''New York Magazine''. is a European American curator and the museum director. He is the Director of the Neue Nationalgalerie, with Berggruen Museum and Scharf-Gerstenberg Co ...

Alanna Heiss Alanna Heiss (born May 13, 1943, in Louisville, Kentucky) is the Founder and Director of Clocktower Productions, a non profit arts organization, online radio station, and program partnership with six cultural institutions in three boroughs in Ne ...

, and

Barbara Vanderlinden Barbara Vanderlinden (born 1965) is a Belgian art historian, curator, and director. Early life and education Vanderlinden graduated with a MA in Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and an MA Art and art History at the Hoger Instituut ...

at the

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

(formerly P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center) in New York. In 2000, Estève participated in ''La ville, le jardin, la mémoire'', an exhibition curated by Laurence Bossé,

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (born December 2, 1957, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, US) is an Italian-American writer, art historian and exhibition maker. She is the recipient of the 2019 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. Currently, she is ...

, and

at the

Villa Medicis The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

in Rome. In 2006–07 his work was presented in New York at the MOMA

in the survey exhibition ''An Eye on Europe,'' an exhibition curated by Deborah Wye. In 2015, Estève and the poet Sandra Lim considered 'life for Adam and Eve after the fall, as a banal reality that begins to crystallize.' The work and poem were published in ''T'',

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Style Magazine.

Collections

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris, France * CNAP Centre national des arts plastiques, National Centre for Visual Arts, Paris, France * Fonds régional d’art contemporain Bretagne, Rennes, France *Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Namur, Belgium *

Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...

, Thessaloniki, Greece *Parlement de la federation Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium *Thalielab, La Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium * Fonds municipal d'art contemporain de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France *

, New York, US

Recognition

In 2016, Estève received the

SABAM SABAM is one of the Belgian associations of authors, composers and publishers. The bilingual acronym stands for "Société d'Auteurs Belge – Belgische Auteurs Maatschappij". Their headquarters is located at 75–77 rue d'Arlon in Brussels. S ...

Award for his distinguished contribution to the visual arts.

Personal life

Estève was born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

on July 30, 1967. He studied visual art at

and Roman Philologie at the

. Since 1997, Estève has been living and working in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and a small village in the Drôme, a department in Southeastern France where his grandfather was born.

References

Further reading (selected monographies and catalogues) Writings by the artist * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteve, Lionel 1967 births French contemporary artists 21st-century French sculptors 21st-century French male artists 20th-century French sculptors Sculptors from Lyon Living people French expatriates in Spain French expatriates in Belgium French expatriates in Germany