Lionel Sabatté (b. 1975, Toulouse, France) lives and works between Paris and Los Angeles. He graduated from the École National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2003. Sabatte has been experimenting with characteristics of what it means to be alive, including transformation due to the passage of aging and time, these themes are at the heart of his work. For several years the artist has begun a process of collecting materials that keep the traces of an experience, a living: dust, ashes, charcoal dead skin. These elements are unexpectedly combined and the works created carry with them a delicacy but also a “disturbing strangeness”, giving life to a hybrid bestiary in which creatures from the abyssal depths rub shoulders with small oxidized birds, from islands, bears, wolves, emus, owls, or unicorns. Practicing both the painting, drawing and sculpture, Lionel Sabatté strives to create a dialogue between all his works, into a permanent connection. His research on the mineral and animal gives access to a poetic, sensitive, disturbing visualisation that can form reflection on our condition and the places we occupy in our environment.
Solo exhibitions include Pollens clandestins, Château de Chambord, curated by Yannick Mercoyrol, Chambird, France (2023); Chrysalis, Cuturi Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2023); Chrysalides, Atelier Blanc, Villefranche-sur-Rouergue, France (2023) ; La Ruche, Fondation d’Enterprise Hermès en partenariat with Vent des forête, Saint Louis-lès Bitche, France (2022) ; Lisières, Galerie Antoine Laurentin, Brussels, Belgium (2022);Éclosion, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole, Saint Étinenne, France (2021) ; Ashes to Dust, Cuturi Gallery, Singapour, Singapour (2021);Possible remains of our future, Ceysson & Bénétière, New York City, USA (2021) ; Organismes et fantasma, Galerie 8+4. Paris, France (2021) ; Échafaudages, Espace Jacques Villeglé, Saint-Gratien, France (2021); Ecce Homo, Prieuré de Pont-Loui, Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne, France (2021); Papiers noirs, Galerie C, Paris, France (2021); Chimères de rouille et de poussières, Maison des Arts de Bages, curated by David Quéré & Romain Jalabert, Bages, France (2020); Elemental Beings, Cuturi Gallery, Singapour, Singapour (2020); Fragements mouvants, Fondation Bullukian, , curated by Fanny Robin Lyon, France (2020); Brume dorée cendre et poussière Mairie de Mende en partenariat aved le FRAC Occitanie-Montpellier, Mende, France (2019); Lionel Sabatté à la grotte de Bédeilhac, In Situ, Parimoine et Art contemporain, curated by Pascal Pique, France (2019);
Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) As If Ever A Wave Has Reached the Shore, curated by Jan-Philip Fuehrsorge, London, UK (2023); Figurer l’absence, Galerie Provost-Hacker, curated by Christophe Wlaeminck, Lille, France (2023); Chemins croisés, Domaine regional de Cuamont-sur-Loire, Caumont-Sur Loire, France (2023); Immortelle, MO.CO, curated by Numa Hambursin, Amélie Adamo, Montpellier, France (2023); Le Tissu, Moastère Royal de Brou, Broug-en-France (2023); Ordure, l’exposition qui fait le tri, Musée de la vie wallonne, Liège, Belgium (2023); Temporality, curated by Fabrice Bousteau, Module of temporality, Kiev, Ukraine (2023); Archi e Lumi, Stella Rouskova Gallery, Geona, Italy (2022); Family & Friends: Ten Years After, BackSlash Gallery, curated by Paris, France (2022); Art et meditation – pour une écologie de l’esprit, Topographie de l’art, curated by Pascal Pique, Paris, France (2022); Bons baisers de Pékin – Yishu8, histoire d’une résidence d’artistes, commissioned by Sophie Makariou, Henry-Claude Cousseau, Christine Cayol, MNAAG-Guimet, Paris, France (2022); Private Choice, curated by Nadia Candet, Paris, France (2022); Fragments, Parcours”Trames” en Résonance de la 16ème Biennale de Lyon, Nouvel Institut-Franco Chinois, Lyon, France (2022); ‘’…and it feels good’, Red Bull Hangar 7, Salzburg, Austria (2022); Ondes de Choc, Galerie Antoine Dupin, Saint Mélior des ondes, France (2022); Le Courage des Oiseaux, La Station Nice, France (2022); Chouette de Panéry (in situ), Château de Panery, Ceysson & Bénétière, France (2022); L’impossible sauvage, Musée Ethnographique de Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2022); RêveriesRêveries – Expérience Pommery #16, Domaine Pommery, Reims, France (2022); Drawing Now, Galerie C, Paris, France (2022); Drawing Now, Galerie 8+4, Paris, France (2022); Art Brussels, Ceysson & Bénétière, Brussels, Belgium (2022); Art Paris, FOCUS Lionel Sabatté, Galerie 8+4, curated by Alce Audouin, Paris, France (2022); Laniakea #2, Volume + Surface, Fondation La Ruche Seydoux, curated by Marie Deparis-Yafil & Bogdan Pavlovic, Paris, France (2022); Drôle de Bestiaire, Galerie Albert Bourgeois, curated by Philippe Piguet, Fougères, France (2022); 2021 Enfer, Galerie Sabine Bayasli, curated by Olivier Masmonteil, Paris, France (2021); Nouvelles icônes, effigies de sel et d’or, FRAC Réunion, curated by Diana Madeleine, Réunion, France (2021); Private Choice – 10ème édition, curated by Nadia Candet, Paris, France (2021); FIAC -HORS LES MURS, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France (2021); Quand la matière devient art, Maison Guerlain, curated by Caroline Messenssee, Paris, France (2021); Hors les murs, MÉMOIRE(S), Galerie C, Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2021); Monstre, Galerie Christina Berst Art Brut, curated by Nancy Huston, Paris, France (2021); Bêtes Curieuses, Abbaye de l’Escaladieu, Bonnemazon, France (2021); OUIOUINONON, 24Beaubourg, Paris, France (2021); So ECOLO ou pas,Galerie F, Paris, France (2020); Bons Baisers de Nice, Espace à vendre, Nice, France (2020); Cabinet Da-End X, Galerie Da-End, Paris, France (2020); La Résidence Saint Ange 2015-2020, Le 24 Beaubourg, curated by Philipp Piguet, Paris, France (2020); Before the dust settles, Feldbusch Wiesner Rudolph Gallery, curated by Jan-Philip Fruehsorge, Germany (2020); The Summer Show, Cuturi Gallery, Singapour (2020); Œuvres déconfinées, poèmes en Liberté, Monastère Royal de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse, France (2020); OUIOUINONNON, le 24 Beaubourg, Paris, France (2020); Printemps, Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière, Paris, France (2020); Wildness, Wolf, Forest, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden, Germany (2020); Jungle, Backspace, Los Angeles, USA (2020); L’Abeille Blanche, Topographie de l’art, curated by Pascal Pique, Centre d’art contemporain du Parvis, Ibos, France (2020); PARDEIDOLIE, Galerie C, Marseille, France (2020); Feux Follets, Galerie Duflon Rasz en collboration avec la Galerie C, Bern, Switzerland (2019); Feux Follets, Galerie Duflon Racz en collaboration avec la Galerie C, Switzerland (2019); Et les chimères se dévoilent à l’ombre d’une étoile, Galerie C, Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2019); Jardinons les possin les, Ateliers des Grandes Serres de Pantin, curated by Isabelle de Maison Rouge, Pantin, France (2019); Éloge de la curiosité, Galerie Henri Chartier, curated Lisa Toubas, Lyon, France,Transfigured, Diane Rosenstein Fine Art, California, USA (2019); 1,2,3, SOLEIL !, Le Mur, Expression contemporaine de l’art, Prieuré de Pont-Loup, France (2019); Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Ceysson & Bénétière, Los Angeles, USA (2019); Drawing Now, Ceysson & Bénétière, Brussles, Belgium (2019)
Highlights and Collections
Lionel Sabatte’s work can be found in the collections of the ATLANA, Kulturshiftung im Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg, Germany; CAFA Art Museum, Pekin, China;Yishu 8, Pekin, China; BNF, Paris, France;Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Etienne Métropole, France; Abbaye de l’escaöadieu, Bonnemazon, France ;Monastère Royal de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse, France ;Musée du Gévaudan, Mende, France ;Musée de la Chassse et de la Nature, Paris, France ;CNAP, Centre National des Arts Palstiques, France; Musée de Vernon, France; Ville de de Massy-Palaiseau, Franc; FRAC Réunion, Saint-Leu, France ; Aquarium de Paris, France ; MASC, Musée de l’Abbaye Sainte.Croix, Sables d’Olonne, France ;Vent des forêts, Fresnes-au-Mont, France ; La Maison Rouge – Fondation Antoine de de Galbert, Paris ; Uneso, Etat Mauricien, Maurice.
Sabatté has been awarded with the 2020 Luxembourg Art Prize; 2019 Prize for painting at la Fondation del Duca;2018 Prize for the friends of la Maison Rouge, Fondation Antoine de Galbert; 2017 Prize for drawing, Drawing Now, Paris; the 2015 Residency Tour Saint-Ange/ Colette Tornier, Seyssins, France;The 2014 Residency pARTage, Institute français de Maurice, Maurice; the 2013 Cent des Forêts, Muese, France and the 2011 Lauréat du Prix Yishu 8, Pekin, China.