Alexis Ralaivao joins Kasmin
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Kasmin is delighted to welcome Alexis Ralaivao (b. 1991, France) to the gallery. To celebrate the announcement, two new paintings by the artist will be featured in our Art Basel Hong Kong presentation from March 28–30. The artist’s first exhibition at Kasmin went on view at the gallery’s 297 Tenth Avenue space in June 2023.
Ralaivao’s sensual and diaristic oil paintings find affective charge in carefully selected quotidian scenes. Reimagining the Northern European tradition of genre painting, Ralaivao seamlessly synthesizes the techniques and attentive gaze of Dutch Golden Age painters—Johannes Vermeer and Gerard Ter Borch among them—while remaining rooted in our contemporary society. “I start with a scene from everyday life, ordinary intimate moments,” the artist has said. “But as I sketch and paint them, they become something more. Layers after layers, what was the ‘truth’ is mixed with my personal feelings, desires and fantasies.” Using classical painterly techniques, Ralaivao’s sensitive encapsulations of his subjects’ daily routines possess a timeless humanity and immediacy. His works deftly synthesize wide-reaching cultural reference points, drawing from his ongoing, intensive autodidactic studies of the history of painting and composition, the language of photography, antiques, and French literature. With a deep understanding and appreciation of the artistic allusions in his work, Ralaivao firmly establishes himself in the lineage of painting’s masters and mavericks.
Eric Gleason, Head of Sales at Kasmin, says: “Alexis' painting practice is one of the most genuine, sincere and thoughtful that I have encountered within his generation. His obsession with the history of painting is unwavering, his technical facility impressive, and his commitment to the studio inspiring. Our collaboration has been a true pleasure from the outset and Kasmin is honored to be Alexis' representing gallery going forward."
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Blending an impressionistic soft-focus with strategic photographic framing, Ralaivao’s distinctive crops both invite and refuse. The artist’s early works explore the pleasure of the domestic space, animating a cinematographer’s eye for drama and detail by lingering on the drapery of clothing or bed linens—the soft contours of the fabric alluding to flesh—along with informal portraits and partial nudes in repose. More recently, the artist has probed the language of luxury and its environs, honing in on glimpses of fine-dining, formalwear and other items to mine themes of consumerism and social exclusion. Rich textures such as flesh, hair, and cloth have become hallmarks of his paintings, but Ralaivao’s keen explorations into the formal qualities and aesthetic value of light have also captured the visual thrill of reflective materials such as patent leather, metal, and glassware—subjects with which the artist can demonstrate an instinctive touch for light’s technical representation. By building thinly layered brushstrokes and a respective luminosity, the artist imbues his painterly universe with a dreamlike quality.
Ralaivao lives and works in his home city of Rennes, France, after spending several years in Berlin. In 2022, he was profiled in The Artsy Vanguard. His work is held in institutional collections in the United States and abroad, including the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Musée des Beaux Arts de Rennes, France; Powerlong Museum, Shanghai, China; and the He Art Museum, China.
Portrait above: Rosa Lacavalla
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Exhibitions
Les Lalanne: Zoophites
From the Collection of Caroline Hamisky Lalanne
Curated by Paul B. Franklin April 4 – May 9, 2024 509 West 27th Street, New York -
Exhibitions
William N. Copley: LXCN CPLY
April 4 – May 11, 2024 297 Tenth Avenue, New YorkWilliam N. Copley: LXCN CPLY will explore the artist’s repertoire of recurring imagery and is the first exhibition to center Copley’s development of his signature visual language. LXCN CPLY draws this thread through five decades of the artist’s career, focusing on a selection of exemplary paintings and drawings from the late 1940s through the 1990s, alongside archival material, documentation and key objects relating to the work on view. The exhibition is co-organized with the William N. Copley Estate, which Kasmin has represented since 2010.
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- Diana Al-Hadid
- Alma Allen
- Theodora Allen
- Sara Anstis
- Ali Banisadr
- Tina Barney
- Judith Bernstein
- JB Blunk
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- William N. Copley
- Cynthia Daignault
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- Les Lalanne
- Matvey Levenstein
- Lyn Liu
- Robert Motherwell
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- Alexis Ralaivao
- George Rickey
- James Rosenquist
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- Jan-Ole Schiemann
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- Dorothea Tanning
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- Bernar Venet
509 West 27th Street
New York
Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–6pm
+1 212 563 4474
info@kasmingallery.com
297 Tenth Avenue
New York
Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–6pm
+1 212 563 4474
info@kasmingallery.com
Kasmin Sculpture Garden
New York
On view from The High Line at 27th Street
Monday–Sunday, 7am-11pm
+1 212 563 4474
info@kasmingallery.com
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