THE STABLES

Born in 1967 in Lyon, France. Lives and works in Brussels.

The characteristic that particularly defines Lionel Estève is his capacity to combine informality and fragility to create the effectiveness of a work that guides the eye of the beholder more than actually revealing something to them. It arouses the perception of an infinite reality by revealing a space that is palpable and almost tactile.  

He has spent the last thirty years discovering different materials and manual techniques such as working with glass, frescoes, ceramics, watercolour, collages, and sculpture in all its forms. He also explores a wide range of non-academic techniques that he himself has more or less invented in order to create assemblages, sculptures, mobiles and installations. His unclassifiable ‘mixed-media’ approach eludes the current rhetoric in the world of contemporary art and he prefers to evoke a feeling of absolute beauty. Whether figuratively or abstractly, his delicate visions are generally inspired by patterns that he finds in the organic world of nature and his own sensual  experiences - the initial sources of this unbridled creativity. Like an illuminator working on a manuscript, Lionel works at reaching beyond the simple surface of things thanks to a sense of wonder that the presence of his works provokes with their joyous artifices. 

His work has been exhibited in numerous institutions around the world including Grand-Hornu, Hornu, Belgium- November 12 2023- March 17, 2024
Galerie Baronian, Brussels, Belgium (2023). What the Day Hides, the Night Shows, Perrotin, Tokyo Japan; So Much, Xippas Geneve; Jardin de Pierre, Magasin Général, Rivière-la-Madeleine, Canada; Jolie Pluie, Grzegorzki Productions, Berlin; Grzegorzki Shows, Berlin, Germany 52022). As well as Group Exhibitions including Conran Shop x Perrotin, The Conran Shop, Paris, France; Les fleurs du mâle, Musée d’Art Naïf Anatole Jakovsky, Nice, France; Jardin, Miroir du Monde, Château du Rivau, Lémeré, France; The Shop Show, Baronian Xippas, Brussels, Belgium.