Born in 1976 in Nantes (France).
Lives and works in Boulogne-sur-mer and in Lille (France).
AURÉLIEN
MAILLARD
Aurélien Maillard combines a resolutely minimal formal vocabulary with craft-like gestures and practices. He gives his works an ambiguous status between industrial production with an impeccable finish and sensitive objects invested with a spiritual dimension. In his Impact series, the artist gradually reveals the slow, patient construction behind the fluidity of the trace of a gesture deeply engraved in the material.
Aurélien Maillard's 'Impacts' series are ambiguous sculptures. At first glance, they appear to be scratches, incisions, blows delivered with force to the picture rail of the exhibition space. The viewer immediately perceives the form as the result of the violent imprint of a spontaneous gesture. With hindsight, the clarity of the shape, the absence of rubble and above all the scale of this 'impact' are intriguing. What body, what tools could have so graphically damaged the partitions? What silent rage could have motivated such an assault? Gradually, we can make out the simulation, the slow, patient construction behind the fluidity of the trace of a gesture deeply inscribed in the material and at the same time completely virtual. The impacts are real sculptural trompe-l'œil, playing on immediate seduction to provoke further reflection.
The term "impact", literally, refers to the violence of physical contact on a body. The impact of a bullet, the deadly impact of a bomb. The word is also used in other wars, such as those waged by the media. Polls are used to measure the impact on public opinion of slogans, images, messages or marketing concepts. It's no longer a question of hitting bodies, but minds and consciences, to leave a decisive mark on the political, economic or artistic battle ahead... Aurélien Maillard's impacts are reminiscent of the brutal hyper-competitiveness of contemporary society. The impacts show a violence elevated to the level of graphic abstraction, the objectified presence of which can be chilling.
The impacts also recall a very primitive gesture of self-assertion, of aggressive or loving appropriation of a space: engraving a sign on a surface to leave a trace of a passage, of a presence in the world. The parietal engravings in the Rouffignac cave and the graffiti photographed by Brassaï bear witness to the universality of this gesture. In his impacts, Aurélien Maillard fuses the impetus of a primitive gesture with the sophistication of a simulation of a random phenomenon that looks as if it has been plucked straight out of three-dimensional modelling software. As in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the origins of man meet the complexity of technology in a dizzying synthesis for the viewer to contemplate.
The "impact" is not just "aggressive", it's also seductive. Each piece is carefully crafted. The artist's almost artisanal gesture - precise and precious - patiently builds the illusion of the trace of another gesture as fluid as it is virtual, like Roy Lichtenstein's Brushstrokes. But far from the ironic objectification of the American artist, the impacts exude a rock energy, a libidinal investment, a sexy groove that spreads across the walls of a lovingly ransacked white cube. The incision of the support, as in Lucio Fontana's paintings, is an operation with quite obvious sexual connotations. The presence of these powerful virtual imprints that are the impacts reminds us of what we perhaps are: infinitely sophisticated beings driven by ageless fears and impulses. In a world as sanitised and controlled as never before, the accidental presence of life in the universe remains an unfathomable gap, an infinite source of questioning and contemplation. And that's what Aurélien Maillard's "impacts" are all about.
CV
Né en 1976 à Nantes.
Vit et travaille à Boulogne-sur-mer et à Lille.
EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES / SOLO SHOWS
2019
Pervasive patterns, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
2016
Storage, Galerie Francis Carrette, Brussels, Belgium
Lying there like you're tame, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
Aurélien Maillard, Galerie Franzis Engels, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014
Off Contemporary Art Fair, Galerie Bacqueville, Tour & taxi, Brussels, Belgium
EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVE / GROUP SHOWS
2021
Art Paris Art Fair, Palais Éphémère, Paris, France
2020
Haute Tension (exposition Mouvement, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
L'envol (exposition Mouvement, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
Faux semblants, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
2019
Paris Contemporary Art Show, 118 rue de Rivoli, Paris, France
Galeristes, Le Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
This is not home, Hop project Gallery, Folkestone, United Kingdom
Talkie-Walkie/Walkie-Talkie, Fructôse, Dunkerque, France
Eldorado, Lille3000, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
I love America, portes ouvertes Paris Belleville, Paris, France
2018
Paris Contemporary Art Show, Le Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
News of the fake, l'Orangerie du Château, Sucy-en-Brie, France
Range of Beauty, a secularized modern legacy, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2017
YIA art fair #11, Le Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
Nuit blanche, Le Kiosque, Mayenne, France
Team Building#1, by Welchrome, Atelier 11bis, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Kunst Rai Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Off Course art fair, Mont des arts, Brussels, Belgium
Shelters, La Montagne, Lavallée, Brussels, Belgium
Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Framework, by Welchrome, Public Pool #3, Frac Grand Large - Hauts-de-France
Art Karlsruhe, Trade Fair Center, Karlsruhe, Germany
2016
Cologne Art Fair, Cologne, Germany
Garden Party, by Welchrome, Château d'Hardelot, Condette, France
Wooden box, Le Onze, Roubaix, France
Kunst Rai Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Enjoy the silence, by Welchrome, Espace 36, Saint-Omer, France
Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Art Karlsruhe, Trade Fair Center, Karlsruhe, Germany
Today's Homes, La Maison Vide, Reims, France
2015
Slick Art Fair, Pont Alexandre III, Port des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France
Sophistiqués, Bureau d'art et de recherche #2, Roubaix, France
2014
Slick attitude, galerie Cédric Bacqueville, Paris, France
L'art dans les chapelles, chapelle Locmaria, Séglien, France
Art up!, Palais omnisport, Galerie Bacqueville, Lille, France
2013
Silencio, exposition Welchrome, Musée, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Discount, galerie Jeune Création, Paris, France
Hors-d’oeuvre, exposition Welchrome, chez Achille, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Sea you soon, exposition Welchrome, quai Gambetta, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Balises urbaines, commande publique pour Welchrome, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
2012
L'équilibre des forces, avec le soutien de La Malterie, Centre d'art de Wazemmes, Lille, France
La nuit de l'archi, Tournai, Belgium
2011
Diorama, artiste invité pour la 5° édition du Boulevard Sainte Beuve, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
2010
Jeune Création, le 104, Paris, France
Just an illusion, Centre G. Philipe, Calais, France
PUBLICATIONS
2019
Fabienne Bideaud, à propos de l'exposition "Pervasive patterns"
2018
Apologie magazine, Aurélien Maillard
2017
Coffret édition de l'exposition Phenomena
2016
Lying there like you're tame, Nicolas Valains
Escaping the frame : the art of destruction, Jade Cuttle
2015
Contre l'aliénation du regard, Florian Gaité
2014
Catalogue de la 23e édition de l'Art dans les chapelles
2012
L'épaisseur du geste par Bertand Charles, revue 50° Nord #3
Aurélien Maillard : Catafalque, you ads
Balance des contraires par Alexandrine Dhainaut, revue Semaine 15.12
2011
Diorama par Aurélien Maillard. Causeries du Boulevard, Amirama 5. Éditions du Sagittaire
Ping dating par Elisa Seydi, magazine Sport et Styles de juin
Match point par Jérémie Martinez, revue Kiblind
2010
Tables de ping au musée : du 3 au 7 novembre Galerie 104 / Paris, site de l’entreprise
Cornilleau, espace presse
Catalogue de l’exposition collective Jeune Création 2010
Fonds documentaire Nord Artistes