Vidya Gastaldon
Les passe-murailles
As a magician or healer, Vidya Gastaldon takes up quarters in the rooms of Gruyères Castle, deploying a sensitive cosmology where matter and spirit blend together. Just as beings passing through walls, her paintings and installations emerge from within the castle itself, revealing invisible spaces. Visions and dreams take shape, whether on canvas or abandoned furniture, spawning a lush universe abuzz with life, humour, and mystery.
Inspired by the imagery of a globalised culture, the French-Swiss artist Gastaldon brings forth a jumble of different references — a pantheon of deities, video game heroes, and pop culture symbols. Between figuration and abstraction, her work creates a joyful yet metaphysical map of consciousness. It invites viewers to go beyond appearances and inhabit the paradoxes of existence while experiencing cosmic laughter.
Exhibition curator: Filipe Dos Santos,
assisted by Damien Spozio, research assistant
Opening
Friday, 3rd July at 6.30pm
Vidya Gastaldon
After studying at the Grenoble School of Fine Arts, Vidya Gastaldon first came to prominence at a very young age with a performance at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. She initially collaborated with Jean-Michel Wicker for five years before beginning to exhibit her own work in 2001. Exhibited across Europe and internationally, the Franco-Swiss artist’s work blends psychedelic, spiritual and diverse cultural references. Through drawings, paintings and textile sculptures, she creates dense compositions in which diverse motifs and shifts in scale coexist, ranging from the microcosm to the macrocosm. Awarded the Swiss Federal Art Prize in 2005 and 2006, Vidya Gastaldon’s work is held in the collections of several major institutions (National Centre for Visual Arts; Centre Pompidou; FRACs in PACA, Normandy and Alsace; the Geneva Municipal Contemporary Art Fund; the Geneva Cantonal Contemporary Art Fund; the Jenisch Museum; and the Bern Art Museum).
Exhibition views
With the support of
