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

Lionel ESTÈVE

Lionel Estève experiments with various materials and handcrafted techniques to create refined objects including – but not limited to – collages, assemblages, sculptures and mobiles. His unclassifiable mix-media aesthetics unapologetically eludes the current rhetoric of contemporary art to evoke instead a sheer sense of beauty. Whether figurative or abstract, his delicate visions are generally inspired after motifs found in the natural world or its sensual experience, which is the primary source of his unbridled creativity. Like a limner illuminating manuscripts, he seeks to go beyond the mere surface of things and transcend their wonders through gleeful artifice. When he doesn’t directly adorn real elements such as plants and stones, sometimes all that remains in his sculptural yet almost diaphanous oeuvre is the mesmerizing feel of shimmering light or fractal patterns blossoming. Further interested in the notion of multiverse, Lionel Estève exposes different ideas of nature to explore the possibility of parallel worlds.

solo shows

2022 
- Jardin de Pierre, Magasin Général, Rivière-la-Madeleine, Canada
- Grzegorzki Shows, Berlin, Germany 
- Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan (Upcoming)

2020
- Marée basse & Smoking Room, Nobaum Reding, Luxemourg
- Une Histoire simple, Baronian Xippas, Brussels
- Perlas Tiradas, Xippas Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Papier de Provence, Gana Art, Seoul

2019
- Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
- Galerie Uhoda/Baronian, Knokke, Belgium

2018
- Oltre, Annarumma Gallery, Napoli, Italy
- Lionel Estève Poussières Urbaines, Maison Lempertz, Brussels, Belgium
- Rètrospective di Lionel Estéve, Venice Art Projects, Venezia, Italy
- Narcisse, Galerie Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea
- Lionel Estève, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland

2017
- Lionel Estève à Sèvres, Manufacture de Sèvres, Sèvres, France
- Le ventre de la terre, Musée du Verre, Charleroi, France
- Albert Baronian, Brussels, Belgium
- Les Vagues et le rivage, Eden Rock Gallery, Eden Rock Hotel, Saint Barthélemy

2016
- Poussières urbaines et sculptures plates, La Comète (Espace 251 Nord), Liege, Belgium

2015
- A Wander, Galerie Perrotin, Paris
- Un nuage sur mes épaules, BlueProject Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- Rétrospective, De La Charge, Brussels, Belgium

2014
- Gana Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
- Impudique, Albert Baronian, Brussels, Belgium
- Some waves, Galerie Bernier / Eliades, Athens, Greece
- Vivre en pensée, Les Eglises, Centre d'Art Contemporain de la Ville de Chelles, Chelles, France

2013
- To the Rain, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong, China

2012
- A chaos, permanent installation, DCOTA, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
- Galerie Perrotin, Paris

2011
- La Verrière / Hermès, Brussels, Belgium
- Collective hallucination, Galerie Bernier/ Eliades, Athens, Greece

2010
- Gymnastique, Baronian-Francey, Brussels, Belgium
- Teenagers are Always Right, Château de Vert Mont, Rueil-Malmaison, France

2009
- Untitled (permanent installation), WGC, Gand, Belgium
- Lucky colors, Louis Vuitton, Las Vegas, USA
- How to Lie, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France

2008
- Tickling works, Forsblom Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
- I can talk to my cat / Thinking what other are thinking, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium
- De Vereniging DD, Museum Dhont-Dhanens, Deurle, Belgium

2007
- Petite vitesse, bf15, Lyon, France
- Pistil, Galerie Perrotin, Miami, USA
- Eyes contact, Bela Édition chez Dimitri Jeurissen, Brussels, Belgium

2006
- Fleurs de Rocailles, Herzliya Museum of Art, Herzliya, Israel
- Galerie Baronian-Francey, Brussels, Belgium

2005
- Frieze Art Fair, stand Galerie Perrotin, London, UK
- Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
- Night Rainbow, Galerie Bernier/ Eliades, Athens, Greece
- Beautifull Market with Galerie Baronian-Francey, Brussels, Belgium

2004
- Galerie Baronian-Francey, Brussels, Belgium

2003
- Migrateurs organized by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France

2002
- Galerie Albert Baronian, Brussels, Belgium

2001
- Carte blanche, CIAP, Hasselt, Belgium

1999
- Galerie Albert Baronian, Brussels, Belgium

1998
- Salle de la Lunette, Brussels, Belgium

1997
- Venez Nombreux, Luxe 2000, Lyon, France

group shows

2022
- Jardin, Miroir du Monde, Château du Rivau, Lémeré, France

2021
- The Shop Show, Baronian Xippas, Brussels, Belgium
- Blooming, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France

2020
- The Shop Show, Baronian Xippas, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
- Le gout de l'art, Château de Rivau, Léméré

2019
- Points de Rencontres, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Mirages, Galerie de Sèvres, Paris, France
- Le Choix d'Albert, Xippas, Geneva, Switzerland
- Réparation, Maison des artis de Schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium

2018
- Biennale of Contemporary Art of the Enghien Parc "Miroirs2/Tout es paysage", Enghien Parc, Enghien, Belgium
- Fleurs plaisantes, Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Namur, Namur, Belgium
- Melancholia, Fondation Boghossian - Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium

2017
- "SerpentiForm", Mori Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- "SerpentiForm", Art Science Museum, Singapore
- "Jardins" curated by Laurent Le Bon, Grand Palais, Paris
- "De Nature en Sculpture", Fondation Villa Datris, L'Isle-sur-La-Sorgue, France
- "À corps et âme. La médecine à la Renaissance", Château de Kerjean, Saint-Vougay, France
- "NOWHERELAND", Galerie Utopia, Athens

2016
- Roppongi Art Night 2016, in collaboration with the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- KEE Club Exhibition, Curated by Emilie Rolin Jacquemyns, KEE Club, Hong Kong, China
- AD Intérieurs 2016, Univers de collectionneurs, La Monnaie de Paris, France
- Stills of Peace, Museo Capitolare di Atri, Italy
- Biennale de la Peinture 2016 Yoknapatawpha, Roger Raveelmuseum, Machelen-Zulte, Belgium
- Comme si de rien n'était, Van Buuren Museum, Brussels, Belgium 
- Le langage des fleurs et des choses muettes (Ch. Baudelaire), Albert Baronian, Brussels, Belgium
- Eugène Leroy en miroir, Histoire d’onde – Histoire d’eau, MUba, Tourcoing, France

2015
- Là où commence le jour, LaM, Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, Lille, France
- Obsession, Maisons Particulière, Brussels, Belgium

2014
- Bleu-Brut, Expérience Pommery #12, Domaine de Pommery, Reims, France

2013
- Happy Birthday Galerie Perrotin / 25 ans, Tri Postal, Lille, France
- The Mediterranean as a spatial paradigm for the circulation of ideas and meaning. An Introduction, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
- Turbulence II, Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium

2012
- Heavy Lines, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
- Almost Work (Lionel Estève, Michel François, Erwan Mahéo et Mariella Simoni), Blancpain Art Contemporain, Genève, Suisse
- Group Show, Espace de l'Art Concret, Château de Mouans, Mouans-Sartoux, France
- Approche aux Constellations BWA Contemporary Art, Katowice, Poland
- Group Show, Galerie Perrotin, Paris

2010
- Jouvences, Château d'Ardelay, Les Herbiers, France
- Le fabuleux destin du quotidien, Grand-Hornu Images, Hornu, Belgium

2009
- Welcome, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, USA
- Anima Mundi, Glazenhuis, Lommel, Belgium
- Un Musée Imaginaire, Hotel Van de Velde, Brussels, Belgium
- Nothing is Permanent. Albert Baronian, profession galeriste, La Centrale Electrique, Centre Européen d'art contemporain, Brussels, Belgium
- Autres mesures, Centre la Photographie Ile de France, Pontault-Combault, France
- Quand je serai grand, Galerie Jean-Roch Dard, Paris, France

2008
- Point Zéro, Galerie Marijke Scheurs, Brussels, Belgium
- Honorons honoré, De Garage-cultuurcentrum, Mechelen, Belgium
- Estev, langa, Wei, Galerie Bernier Eliades, Athens, Greece
- Le centre du monde, Etablissement d'en face, Brussels, Belgium
- Design by artist, Z33, Hasselt, Belgium
- Le Soigneur de gravité, Mac's - Grandhornu, Mons, Belgium
- L'homme merveilleux, Château de Malbrouck, Manderen, France
- Bruxelles, Territoire de convergences, Musée d'Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
- Bruxelles, Territoire de convergences, Les Filles du calvaire, Brussels, Belgium

2007
- Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, USA
- The Most Gathering Tumbleweed Experience, Nicc, Antwerpen, Belgium
- The Breda Break, Local 01, Breda, The Netherlands
- Paper, La Maison de Marijke Scheurs, Brussels, Belgium
- Boys Craft, Museum of Contemporary Art, Haifa, Israel

2006
- Blac, Brussels, Belgium
- An Eye on Europe, MoMA, New York, USA
- Sea change, Galerie Robert&Tilton, Los Angeles, USA

2005
- Involution, C.A.C de Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France
- Art Unlimited with Gallery Bernier / Eliades, Basel, Switzerland
- Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
- Rec., Play, Rew., Maison Populaire, Montreuil, France
- Le jeune, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui, Centre d'Art Mira Phalaina, Montreuil, France
- Le monstre velu, Galerie Commune, Tourcoing, France
- Sculptures and Installations, Galerie Tanit, Münich, Germany

2004
- Amicalement vôtre, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tourcoing, France
- De vous à moi, Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris, France
- Christian Lacroix: Dialogue!, Musée des Beaux Arts et de la Dentelle, Alençon, France
- Love is in the Air, Matrix Art Project, Brussels, Belgium

2003
- Dessins & Collages, La lettre Volée, Brussels, Belgium
- Phalanstère, C.A.C de Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France

2002
- Family Plot, Galerie Baronian-Francey, Brussels, Belgium
- Location update, curated by par Philippe Braem, Speelhoven, Belgium
- Act, Espace Culturel BBL, Brussels, Belgium
- Autour de Bruno di Rosa, BBL-ING, Brussels, Belgium
- Forwart Brussel, curated by Isabelle Arthuis, BBL, Brussels, Belgium
- La salle de cinéma, curated by d’Isabelle Arthuis, Centre d’Art La Passerelle, Brest, France

2001
- Mosaïque de Chambre, La Maison de Marijke Scheurs, Brussels, Belgium
- Ici & maintenant/Hier & nu, Tour & Taxis, Brussels, Belgium
- Atelier de la mise en œuvre à l’œuvre, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium

2000
- Le lustre et les robinets, La Maison de Marijke Scheurs, Brussels, Belgium
- Invitation à … , Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
- A voir, Rue Antoine Dansaert, Brussels, Belgium
- Carte Blanche à la Galerie Albert Baronian, CIAP, Hasselt, Belgium
- La ville, le jardin, la mémoire, Villa Medicis, Rome, Italy

1999
- Generation Z, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA
- Laboratorium, Antwerpen open, Antwerpen, The Netherlands

1998
- Twee uur breed of twee uur lang, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen, The Netherlands
- O Fascinio das faces do Flandres, Centre Culturel de Belem, Lisbon, Portugal
- Thanks to, 100 Grand Street, New York, USA
- A movable Feast, Galerie Luc Queyrel, Paris, France
- Bureau augmenté, (invitation by Michel François), NICC, Antwerpen, The Netherlands

public collections

- Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
​- CNAP, Paris, France 
- FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France 
- Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Namur, Belgium
- Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
- Thalielab, La Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium
 

  • June 1, 2020
    Art & Deal — 10 PAGES

  • April 9, 2020
    Villa Belgium — 3 PAGES

  • December 12, 2017
    L'art même — 1 PAGE

  • September 1, 2015
    Neo2 — 16 PAGES

  • December 1, 2014
    Asiana — 3 PAGES

Born in Lyon in 1967, Lionel Estève has been living and working there since 1997. His works were included in several shows, such as "Involution" (CAC de Brétigny, 1995), "Amicalement vôtre" (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tourcoing, 2004) and "Migrateur" (Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 2003, curated by Hans-Ulrich Obrist). In September, Lionel Estève will present his first exhibition at our gallery. In the exhibition, the visitor - driven through nets made of thread and pearls - will discover a floating graphic path. Indeed the artist makes his works by gathering bits of materials he finds and recycles. Each of his works can be defined as a spatial drawing where the colours flow either fast or quietly. By being both non-formal and fragile, Lionel Estève's works are extremely powerful, insofar as they direct the eye more than they are to be looked at for themselves. They stimulate the perception of an infinite reality, by unveiling an almost tangible space. Lionel Estève has presented a moving mobile at "Art Unlimited" Art Basel Fair 2005.

Interview between Lionel Estève and Denis Gielen (extract)

– Lionel Estève: How to Lie, is like a proposal to learn something. I like those methods: how to stop smoking, etc. Everyone knows how to lie, so there are both imaginary and real parts in it that correspond to my work.

– Denis Gielen: The objects that you create from your imagination join other, scientific imaginations: models of atoms or botanical typologies like pistils.

– LE: I see my works as mental, and I hope they exist in this way for the public. I don’t need them to understand, I want it to clear their spirit. Take, for example, my nets, among the most scientific of my works. It was very complicated to organise a line in a way that it never goes twice through the same spot. It came out of a question: how does this remarkable object function? I try to understand it, without sketches, like a chess game. I try one path, when I’m blocked I try another, and then I’m blocked again. It becomes obsessive. There’s nothing special in a net however, we see them all the time. After a summer passes, I put balloons in the nets to bring out their circular forms. And at Belle-Île a man teaches me to repair nets. So now I have the tools, I know how to make the knots. And I begin to experiment with form, stitches, volumes, etc.

– DG: You don’t force the material. If you have a translucent leaf, you try to let light stream through … I get the feeling that your work is about finding the right configurations in order to show these elements in their true states, like the stones you collect from Provence. It’s about seeing, about nature’s work, and then comes the artist’s question: how can an artefact be created, without altering the material itself, so that the stone ceases to be a product of nature.

– LE: I try to maintain a direct link between a thought and its realisation. To be low-tech by being the most simple and direct possible; meaning to create things that I can control from the beginning to the end. That’s why I entirely produce all of my works.

– DG: For How to Lie, you evoked a collective exhibition of only one person…

– LE: From the beginning, I work for “projects”, as disconnected entities, unlinked to a continuous discourse. I define a particular work or exhibition as a total, concerning an environment, a context, and my desires. This allows me a great freedom of subject, of matter, of attitude. I don’t restrict myself; I’ve even presented an exhibition of paintings. For the fist time here, I’ve been thinking about the connection between all of these objects. Theoretically, they’ve got nothing in common – they weren’t conceived that way – but in fact, they do. I asked myself about authenticity. To present my work in all of these different facets as an exhibition which would not be a retrospective, because they are new works. Is it then a personal exhibition or a collective one?

2023

Iván ARGOTE, Daniel ARSHAM, Gabriel DE LA MORA, Lionel ESTÈVE, Zach HARRIS, Barry MCGEE, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Christiane POOLEY, Yu-Xin SU, Claire TABOURET, Pieter VERMEERSCH, BI Rongrong, CHEN Ke, CHEN Tianzhuo, JIN Ningning, LIN Ke, NA Buqi, WEI Jia, YANG Guangnan, ZHANG Miao

January 13, 2023 - March 25, 2023

Shanghai

3/F, 27 Hu Qiu Road, Huangpu District

I Feel the Way You Feel

2022

Lionel ESTÈVE

October 28, 2022 - January 7, 2023

tokyo

Piramide Building, 1F, 6-6-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku

What the Day Hides, the Night Shows

2019

Lionel ESTEVE

September 7, 2019 - September 21, 2019

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

Chemical Landscape

2018

Lionel ESTEVE

January 24, 2018 - March 10, 2018

Seoul

1F 5 Palpan-gil, Jongno-gu

Narcisse

2015

Lionel ESTEVE

April 18, 2015 - May 30, 2015

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

a wander

2013

Lionel ESTEVE

January 18, 2013 - February 21, 2013

hong kong

50 CONNAUGHT ROAD CENTRAL, 17TH FLOOR - HONG KONG

To the Rain

2012

Sophie CALLE, Johan CRETEN, Wim DELVOYE, ELMGREEN & DRAGSET, Lionel ESTÈVE, Bernard FRIZE, Bharti KHER, KOLKOZ, Klara KRISTALOVA, Guy LIMONE, Takashi MURAKAMI, Jean-Michel OTHONIEL, Paola PIVI, Claude RUTAULT, Michael SAILSTORFER, Xavier VEILHAN

March 10, 2012 - April 21, 2012

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS

Lionel ESTEVE

January 14, 2012 - March 3, 2012

paris

10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS

2009

Iván ARGOTE, Daniel ARSHAM, Lionel ESTÈVE, Daniel FIRMAN, KOLKOZ, Mathieu MERCIER, Xavier VEILHAN

December 1, 2009 - January 9, 2010

miami

Lionel ESTEVE

March 14, 2009 - May 16, 2009

paris

10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS

How To Lie

2007

Lionel ESTEVE

February 10, 2007 - April 7, 2007

miami

Pistils

2005

Lionel ESTEVE

September 10, 2005 - October 22, 2005

paris

76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS
"I FEEL THE WAY YOU FEEL" AT PERROTIN SHANGHAI

"I FEEL THE WAY YOU FEEL" AT PERROTIN SHANGHAI

Lionel ESTÈVE

LIONEL ESTÈVE "CHEMICAL LANDSCAPE" AT PERROTIN PARIS

LIONEL ESTÈVE "CHEMICAL LANDSCAPE" AT PERROTIN...

Lionel ESTEVE

"Un nuage sur mes épaules", Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona. Until 7 June 2015

"Un nuage sur mes épaules", Blueproject...

Lionel ESTÈVE

"a wander" Galerie Perrotin, Paris 2015

"a wander" Galerie Perrotin, Paris 2015

Lionel ESTEVE

"How to Lie" (2009) Documentary by Philippe JOPPIN

"How to Lie" (2009) Documentary by Philippe JOPPIN

Lionel ESTÈVE