Liste Art Fair Basel

We are now immersed in the real-life version of what writer Bruce Sterling called in his 1994 sci-fi novel, “heavy weather:” a constant barrage of disasters caused by a runaway greenhouse effect. Guillaume Dénervaud is gripped by dystopian novels and films that have accurately predicted the current planetary condition, which is dire and yet neglected. Through painting and drawing Dénervaud generates fictional ecosystems that are otherworldly and also frighteningly evocative of the bleak and volatile environments we must weather every day.

Guillaume Dénervaud renders dense forests of organic and engineered forms using stencils and templates he has collected. These templates include traditional architectural French curves and various ellipses, as well as branded stencils used by real estate agents and furniture designers to sketch diverse industrial elements: the curve of a wall, the shape of bathroom fixtures, plumbing, electrical wiring, etc. As CAD has made these tools mostly obsolete for commercial use, Dénervaud redeploys them to create various visions of the future built on the remnants of today’s industrialized society. These new anticipatory scenarios of dystopian scapes seem more like disrupted habitats than deliberate plans, with mutant flora, overgrown invasive species, rusting motor parts collecting silt in lakebeds, and living tissue merging with electronic circuitry. Flowing shapes reminiscent of parasitic plants or cancerous cells proliferate. Dénervaud infuses the systems with life by using ink and oil paint made from plants, algae, and minerals: the colors don’t only represent nature, they are derived from nature itself, crushed and dissolved and stirred.

Guillaume Dénervaud (b. 1987, Fribourg, Switzerland) lives and works in Paris. He studied at the École des artsappliqués, Geneva and at HEAD, Geneva. Dénervaud’s solo shows include Swiss Institute, New York (2023) (forthcoming); Synthetic Splinter, Bel Ami, Los Angeles (2023); Surv’eye, Centre D’édition Contemporary (CEC), Geneva (2021); Zone Furtive, Balice Hertling, Paris (2019); Inversens Clinic, Alienze, Lausanne (2019); and Spectrolia Corporation, Hard Hat, Geneva (2018). Group exhibitions include Don’t Worry, This Will All Be Over Soon, Gregor Staiger, Milan (2023); La main-pleur, Fri Art Kuns- thalle, Fribourg (2022); Des corps, des écritures, Musée d’art Moderne de Paris (2022); Aquarium, Maison Pop- ulaire, Montreuil (2022); Les formes du transfert, Les Magasins Généraux, Paris (2021); Emblazoned World, Bel Ami, Los Angeles (2021); Le sain ennui, BQ Gallery, Berlin (2021); Your Friends and Neighbors, High Art, Paris (2020); and L’Oranger, LiveInYourHead, Geneva (2017). Dénervaud participated in the Swiss Institute residency program, New York (2021). His work is in the collections of the ICA Miami; MAMCO, Geneva; and the Musée d’art Moderne de Paris.