Etienne Chambaud carries out a persistent exploration on the nature of a work of art: its relation to other works, its contexts, and the way artworks are used. Chambaudʼs work never functions in isolation but finds its sense or its interest in a permanent dialogue with other works. They grow mutually rich, while gradually drawing the vague contours of a constellation made of common references. They work as palimpsests, which guard the trace of a former work while proposing a new composition, thus oscillating endlessly between inescapable repetition and continuous new horizons. The works of Etienne Chambaud donʼt deliver themselves solely through the interpretation of their form, but require recourse to an additional element, such as their titles or captions, to be circumscribed. He creates a discomforting situation by confronting the spectator with an enigmatic and seemingly mute object.

However, the hermetic nature of the work does not lean on elitism, but rather creates a certain equality between its spectators. (Text by Raphaël Brunel, excerpts from Etienne Chambaud, in Les Cahiers de la Création Contemporaine, Cahier d’été #2, 2009.)

Etienne Chambaud (born 1980) lives and works in Paris, France. Recent solo exhibitions include Objets Rédimés, Bugada & Cargnel, Paris, France; Contre-Histoire de la Séparation, Centre International de l’Art et du Paysage de Vassivière, Vassivière, France; Le Musée Décapité, Sies+Höke, Düsseldorf, Germany; On Hospitality, Labor, Mexico City, Mexico; The Sirens’ Stage, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK; Le Stade des Sirènes, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France; Lo stato delle sirene, Nomas Foundation, Roma, Italy;  Mais où est donc Ornicar ?, Espace Blank, Paris, France; Color Suite, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France and A Brief History of the Twentieth Century, Sassa Trülzsch, Berlin, Germany.