“The Domaine national de Chambord has invited Julien des Monstiers to take up residency at the estate, followed by an exhibition from May 26 to November 3 2024. In close dialogue with the monument and its history, wild animals, both real and fantastical, are counterbalanced by an abstract rhythm in which motif and colour flow freely. 

From May 26 to November 3, 2024, Julien des Monstiers’ works will bring the walls of Chambord to life with contemporary motifs from the distant past. The meticulous construction of the works through the superimposition of flat layers of paint allows different temporalities to coexist in the same space. Blurred images are recomposed in a tangle of motifs and colours dominated by the complementary pairing of orange and blue. 

Julien des Monstiers adopts forms and gestures borrowed from great stories, but also from the history of his motifs: hunting scenes, floral decorations, tapestries, with a certain predilection for animal scenes. Julien des Monstiers uses a transfer technique to create his paintings: he paints his drawings on a sheet of Plexiglas, then transfers the fresh paint to a layer of crystal-clear paper, pressing the resulting motif onto the canvas in a series of incessant to-and-fro movements. Thanks to his virtuoso and innovative approach to oil painting, Julien des Monstiers is now considered a rising star in contemporary art.” — The Domaine national de Chambord

“The Suquet des Artistes de Cannes presents «Dessus / dessou», an exhibition devoted to the artist Julien des Monstiers. Somewhere between the fine arts and the applied arts, Julien des Monstiers experiments with the limits of painting, seeking out depth, surfaces, textures, folds and fractures. The works presented at Suquet des Artistes, whether figurative or abstract, are intended to show that the subject is not in the image but in the way it is made.” — The Suquet des Artistes

Title image: Julien Des Monstiers. Le Réel, 2021. Oil on canvas, 230 x 170 cm (90 1/2 x 66 7/8 in.). Courtesy Julien des Monstiers & Galerie Christophe Gaillard © Julien des Monstiers Adagp, Paris. Photo © Jean-Louis Losi.

Images courtesy The Domaine national de Chambord and The Suquet des Artistes.