[2024 FRIEZE Masters] Claude Viallat

Claude Viallat was born in 1936 in Nîmes and he still lives and works there. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier from 1955 to 1959, and later studied in Raymond LeGault's studio at the Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1962-63. Viallat is recognized as one of the founding members and key figures of the Support/Surface movement in France, along with a group of artists that included Daniel Dezeuze. Experimenting with the physical and structural aspects of painting, Viallat began working on industrial tarpaulins without stretchers, covering them with the same endlessly-repeated abstract shape. By reproducing the shape using a stencil, in a variety of colors and on different surfaces such as upholstery fabrics, rugs, and recycled materials, Viallat eradicated the notion of a "subject" and explored the meaning of the creative gesture and the status of the work of art. In 1982, Viallat held a retrospective exhibition at the Pompidou Center and represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1988. In addition to his artistic career, he has also worked as a teacher in various art schools including Nice, Limoges, Marseille, Nimes (where he was a director for many years), and Paris at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. His works can be found in many public collections, including at the Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, MOMA in New York, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Montréal, and National Museum of Art in Osaka.