© Images Cheonho Ahn
CLÉDIA FOURNIAU
MASHENUP
26 OCTOBER – 30 NOVEMBER 2024
KÖNIG GALERIE is pleased to present MASHENUP, a solo exhibition by Clédia Fourniau, featuring a new body of work that includes 16 paintings, a large-scale diptych, and her signature small-format works.
At the core of MASHENUP is Fourniau’s fascination with combining disparate elements, the show’s title an allusion to the musical concept of a mash-up, where different and incongruous songs are blended to create something entirely new. She explores how seemingly unrelated images, materials, and gestures can be brought together to form a cohesive and complex whole. MASHENUP is a playful adaptation of the term, reflecting Fourniau’s interest in disruption and the possibilities of errors – whether through language or in the process of painting itself. For her, the "mistake" becomes a productive force that opens new paths for understanding and creation.
Compared to previous exhibitions, Fourniau has recently been moving toward more pared-down, quieter images in her work. In MASHENUP, these more restrained actions engage in a dialogue with bolder, more vibrantly colored, and spectral pieces. The exhibition is deliberately heterogeneous – some paintings are bold and loud, while others are muted and restrained – but the entire body of work is held together by the shared use of orange/colored borders, which frame and connect each painting, enacting a visual and spatial rhythm throughout. This intentional resonance reflects her ongoing investigation into the possibilities of abstract painting, where each work is part of a broader, interrelated long-term conversation.
Fourniau’s approach to abstraction has no interest in naturalistic representation, delving instead into the complexities and contradictions of contemporary life, capturing its ambiguities through form, material, color, scribbles, and images. Working simultaneously on multiple canvases, she balances expressive spontaneity with controlled, deliberate shapes.
For the first time in MASHENUP, Fourniau introduces new materials – oil paint, metallic silver and gold pigments, bleach, and matte finishes – adding another layer of experimentation, reflecting her strong connection to the studio practice. Some paintings dazzle with vibrant color, while others recede into a palette of grays and other subtle tones, a disparity that creates a dynamic interplay between contrasted moods and energies within the exhibition. The silver-gray linen canvases in particular adapt to their surroundings, absorbing and reflecting light in ways that make them feel timeless, austere, and yet still alive, with possibility of transformation.
Her fascination with reflective surfaces is central to her paintings, which incorporate resin, metallic pigments, and pearlescent mica that change depending on the viewer’s perspective, creating an intriguing interplay of movement and stillness. These materials invite viewers to engage physically with the paintings, integrating their presence into the paintings themselves. The reflective surfaces function as both a metaphor and a literal tool, echoing Friedrich Nietzsche’s observation that "If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you." Fourniau’s paintings encourage exactly this type of introspection, as viewers become both observer and participant in the work.
The exhibition reflects Fourniau’s ongoing interest in materiality and process. Drawing inspiration from the late US American painter, Robert Ryman, she explores how the physical qualities of the canvas, pigments, and even the glue used in their preparation can shape the final work. For her largest canvases in MASHENUP, she used the irregular lines left behind by poorly applied rabbit-skin glue as a guiding structure, allowing these accidental marks to determine the form and composition of the painting, so the shape comes to her, and not the other way around. This interplay between intention and accident runs throughout the exhibition, with Fourniau constantly negotiating between the forces of control and spontaneity.
Fourniau continues her dialogue with painting’s history, intentionally borrowing from a wide range of artistic vocabularies. Her work engages with modernist forms – geometric lines, dots, gestural marks, stains, and projected shapes – while also invoking the Dansaekhwa movement, known for its minimalist and meditative approach to abstraction in Korea, where the exhibition takes place. MASHENUP also explores the notion of peripheral space, inspired by the spatial philosophy of Gaston Bachelard, in which Fourniau brings attention to the corners of her canvases, areas typically overlooked in traditional composition. These small, intimate spaces evoke a sense of memory and comfort, reminding us of how even the smallest details can hold meaning. This focus engenders a dialogue between center and periphery, inviting viewers to question the hierarchy of the surface, especially in relation to all-over expressionist painting.
This new body of work invites viewers to engage with painting in new ways, encouraging a slower, thoughtful response. The exhibition resists easy answers, presenting instead a collection of works that consciously avoiding heroic gestures and the grandiose to embrace a more personal relationship, drawn in large part from her own life. This intimate narrative weaves throughout the exhibition, adding yet another layer of meaning to her exploration of materiality, process, and abstraction.
