Tout autour l’eau exhibition view – 2022 -galerie Eva Vautier

About us

Presentations

Benoît Barbagli’s studio is vast. Ocean, river and mountain are his performative spaces. Art arises there, a vital emergence within the collective. His plural and multi-medium proposals hatch in itinerant gestures. Art moves in nature.

In his peripatetic devices, the path makes sense, the nudity is candid, and the work manifests itself in upsurges. The configurations are multiple, the rituals varied and, often, the expedition that leads to the artistic experience is done with visual artists. His camera is described as “flying”. It passes from hand to hand and the signature is frequently shared or collective.

Benoît Barbagli explores borders. He draws from the substrate of creation in search of its germinations from shared nourishment. The Mountain creates as much as the sea, as the artist friend, by his presence, by his movement, by the principle of life, essentially random, which moves him. Art captures moments of the Living which always manifests itself where we least expect it, in unheard-of sequences that we sometimes struggle to capture in their deployments. With humor, lightness, strength and delicacy, Barbagli invites us to capture the moments and encourages us to consider them in their ephemeral beauty. An ode to Vitality.

The four elements are recurring. They animate and structure the artist’s series in Heraclitean bursts. Fire, water, air, earth. Benoît Barbagli’s universe is poetic, polysemous, modest, funny. He likes to “divert references from culture to return them to nature.” What makes a work? The project ? Its manifestations? He orchestrates meetings, a community is created around the project and the creative space then becomes a joyful pretext for life.

To pay homage to the living, to restore its place to it, the artist fades away, he stages, stages and yet fades with great elegance, the ego dissolves in the interconnected, I is another. Benoît Barbagli is reverse romanticism. His return to nature takes place in a peaceful setting where egotism is annihilated, where praise is stripped of pomp, where art emerges in its simplest expression.

In the Mediterranean Sea in winter, a hand holds out a bouquet in the icy water, the fertile sea is also deadly lately. Eros and Thanatos come together, amorous ardor and mortuary homage are two sides of the same mirror. In an attempt at love by torchlight, a naked body throws itself off a cliff, tomb of the diver or inextinguishable passion? The moment is in suspense, an unresolved space subject to the projections of the viewer. Grace, fall and rebound – or not, are part of the whole thing. Bodies carry a stone under the troubled surface of a lake, the emergence of a new Atlantis or the Sisyphean perspective of an inevitable landslide after yet another attempt? The artist and his acolytes bring their stone to the visual edifice.

Benoît Barbagli is the sherpa of the mountain, he transports his paintings there so that the latter can create. He removes the museumification of the woman’s body by returning it to the earth. He picks up the spark igniting the beam. He walks on the Anthropocene by questioning the stars, born of chaos.

By Pulcherie Galmer for the exhibition Under Chaos, Life

Portfolio 2023

Here’s the English and French PDF version of Benoit Barbagli’s portfolio, updated to summer 2023.

Critical Texts

The critical texts presented here offer an analysis of Benoît Barbagli’s work. They highlight his close relationship with ecology and his place in the contemporary artistic landscape. Written by critics, curators and philosophers, these writings bring diverse perspectives, reflecting a variety of approaches and reflections on art, nature and the current issues of our time.

Gallery

Artist co-founder & curator, Galerie Eva Vautier, Nice

Eva Vautier Gallery

2 rue vernier

Libération district

06000 Nice

Tel 09 80 84 96 73

Tel 06 07 25 14 08

 

 

Career paths and biographies

Benoît Barbagli born in 1988 in Nice. He lives and works between Paris and Nice.

Personal exhibitions

2022
All around, the water
Galerie Eva Vautier, Nice

2022
Origin of joy
Galerie Epi ,Ingrande-sur-loire

2022
New Wave
Palazzo Saluzzo Paesana, Turin, Italy

2021
Under Chaos Life
Galerie Mansard, Paris

2021
The sea at work
Espace culturel de Port-Lympia, Nice

2021
Ecotopia – Interview,
Château de la Napoule, Mandelieu-la-Napoule

2020
90° above the fire
Windsor Hotel, Nice

2020
Alive
Château de la Napoule, Mandelieu-la-Napoule

2015
Telepathy room
SuperVue, Hotel Burrhus, Vaison-la-Romaine

2015
In a second of inspiration
Exterior facade of MAMAC and TNN, Nice

Exhibition produced as part of the Réveillons-Nous festival organized by Irina Brook

2015
A sort of metaphor for (planet) Earth
Paris 18th

Exhibition produced in partnership with the Association Diameter, Traveling Gallery

2015
Here the earth
Rosalina, Nice

Exhibition created as part of a Botox(s) event

Duo exhibitions

2022
Aleas
curated by Alain Jaquet, exhibition in apartment with Jacque Renoir

2018
Emosophia
curated by Caterina Zevola Open Bach, Paris (with Bertrand Lanthiez)

2017
Behind the Sea
Galerie de Beuil, Beuil (with Anne-laure Wuillai)

Exhibitions with the Palam Collective

2021
Orées
Villa Cameline, Nice

2020
Under the ice the water
Caisse d’épargne de Nice Masséna, Nice,

2020
In the presence of
Chapelle Sainte-Elisabeth, Villefranche-sur-Mer

2019
Azimuth
Galerie Eva Vautier, Nice, and the FRAC PACA as part of Des marches et démarches

Collective exhibitions

2022
A rose is a petinua is a mimosa
Galerie Eva vautier, Nice

2021
The horizon
Galerie Eva Vautier Hors les Murs, La menuiserie, La Motte-Servolex

2020
With pleasure III
Galerie Eva Vautier, Nice

2020
Voila l’été
La station, Nice

2020
Fire walk with me
Musée d’art Naif, Nice

2018
With pleasure II
Eva Vautier Gallery, Nice

2019
Nopoto
BelOeil, Nice

2019
Building
villa Le Roc Fleury, Cap d’Ail

2019
Life is a film
109, Nice

2019
100 titles
BelOeil, Nice

2018
With pleasure
Eva Vautier Gallery, Nice

2018
Memory and the sea
curated by Rebecca François, Nice

2018
Private Choice
curated by Nadia Candet, Paris

2018
A collection 5
curated by Camille Frasca, Paris

2017
Rien ne se perd….
curated by Camille Frasca, Paris

2017
A collection
curated by Camille Frasca, Nice

2016
An ideal palace for strange egos
Palais idéal du facteur Cheval, Hauterives

2016
Prefiguration of the ideal palace of strange egos
Palais idéal du facteur Cheval, Hauterives

2015
Odyssey
Galerie La Marine, Nice

Exhibition organized by Villa Arson, 2015 graduate students

2014
Competent bodies
Villa Arson Art Center, Nice

2013
Work in progress
Eva Vautier Gallery, Nice

Group exhibition and curatorship organized in partnership with Eva Vautier

2013
Manca
performative concert, MAMAC, Nice

Performance /Workshops/ Residences

2019
Polychrome
Utopia residence, Ponte-Leccia, Haute-Corse

2018
School of Nice – From Pop Art to Happenings
Hong-Kong, French May 2018, direction of a workshop on performance art as a representative of the School of Nice.

2013
Avatar
workshop, École d’art de l’Université Laval, Québec, directed by Pascal Broccolichi and Julie Faubert

2012-2013,
Des corps compétents
workshops, HEAD, Génève, Switzerland under the direction of Arnaud

Label Rojoux, Patrice Blouin and Christophe Kihm

2011
Fluxus concerts and performances
Performance at MoMA (Newyork City) with Ben Vautier Foires

2019 DrawingNow, Paris, Galerie Eva Vautier,

2018 ArtParis, Paris, Galerie Bertheas,

Permanent presentation

Bertheas Gallery, Vichy, Saint-Etienne, Paris

Eva Vautier Gallery, Nice

Publications

2022
All around, water
Ecological and social manifesto for the exhibition
All around, water

2022 Nouvelle Vague, Exhibition catalog

2019 Ecotopia, book about the ecotopia project

2014 Ici la terre, le mémoire, Graduation thesis directed by Joseph Mouton and Thomas Golsen, Villa Arson, Nice

2014
Ici la terre, the expedition
Co-publication for the Ici la terre project, with texts by Tristan Blumel

Trainings

2015, DNSEP, Villa Arson, National School of Fine Arts of Nice

2013, DNAP, Villa Arson, National School of Fine Arts of Nice

2011, License III Philosophy, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis

Registered at the Maison des Artistes, siret number: 79392808600016

 

Collective exhibitions

 

Duo exhibitions

2020 OceanBloom, Iliana Tounda, Athens, Greece (with Eri Dimitriali)

2018 Emosophia, Open Bach, Paris

2017 Behind the Sea, Galerie de Beuil, Beuil

 

Exhibitions with the Palam Collective:

2021 Villa Cameline, Nice

2020 Voyage at Sea, Sainte-Elisabeth Chapel, Villefranche-sur-Mer

2019 Azimuth , Galerie Eva Vautier, Nice, and the FRAC PACA within the framework of Marches and approaches

 

Personal exhibitions:

2015 Telepathy chamber – SuperVue, Hotel Burrough, Vaison-la-Romaine
2015 In a second of inspiration, MAMAC, Nice

Exhibition produced as part of the Réveillons-Nous festival organized by Irina Bro
2015 A kind of metaphor like the (planet) Earth, Paris

Exhibition produced in partnership with the Association Diameter, Traveling Gallery

2015 DNSEP, Life, Villa Arson, 2015
2015 Here the earth, Evening visitors, Rosalina, Nice

Exhibition created as part of a Botox(s) event

 

Main collective exhibitions:

2019 Building, villa Le Roc Fleury, Cap d’Ail

2019 Life is a Movie

2019 100 titles, Nice

2018 With pleasure , Eva Vautier Gallery, Nice

2018 Memory and the sea, Nice

2018 Private Choice , curated by Nadia Candet, Paris

2018 A collection 5, curated by Camille Frasca, Paris

2018 Nothing is lost, Paris

2017 A collection , curated by Camillle Frasca, Nice

2016 An ideal palace of strange egos, Postman Cheval’s ideal palace, Hauterives

2015 Odyssey, Villa Arson

2014 Competent bodies, Villa Arson

2013 Work in progress, Eva Vautier Gallery,

2018 Private Choice , curated by Nadia Candet, Paris

2017 Nothing is lost…. , curated by Camillle Frasca, Paris

2017 A collection , curated by Camillle Frasca, Nice

2016 An ideal palace of strange egos, Postman Cheval’s ideal palace, Hauterives

2015 Odyssey , La Marine Gallery, Nice

Exhibition organized by Villa Arson – graduate students 2015

2014 Competent Bodies, Villa Arson Art Center, Nice

2013 Work in progress , Eva Vautier Gallery, Nice

Group exhibition and curatorship organized in partnership with Eva Vautier

 

Performance /Workshops/ Residences

2019 Polychrome , Utopia residence, Ponte-Leccia, Haute-Corse

2018 School of Nice – From Pop Art to Happenings , Hong-Kong, French May 2018, direction of a workshop on performance as a representative of the School of Nice.

2013 Avatar, workshops, Laval University School of Art, Quebec, Direction Pascal Brocolichi and Julie Faubert

2013 Manca, performance concert, MAMAC, Nice

2012-2013 , Competent bodies, workshops, HEAD, Geneva, Switzerland under the direction of Arnaud Label Rojoux, Patrice Blouin and Christophe Kihm

2011 FLUXUS concert – MOMA performance with Ben Vautier

 

 

Permanent presentation

Bertheas Gallery , Vichy, Saint Etienne, Paris

Eva Vautier Gallery , Nice

 

 

Fairs:

ArtParis, Paris, 2018

 

 

Auction:

Lights

Asha

 

Bio Fr in PDF

Bio English in PDF