RESIDENCY
Kevin Rouillard
Production Residency
15.03.2021 - 15.06.2021
© Selebe Yoon, Dakar
Well-known for his large large assemblage of burnt and flattened barrels, used for commodities sent between France and Cap Verde, Kevin Rouillard’s practice inquires on the circulation of goods as well as an object’s relationship to context and value system. By collecting and recycling used and arduous materials, he adopts the position of a worker, or a researcher that asks questions and offers silent answers, with little reference points. His latest exhibition « Le Grand Mur » at Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2020, came out after his time in Mexico and anchored itself in the geographical, political, imaginary contexts of that country.
Since 2016, Kevin Rouillard flattens, hammers and welds metal barrels - a commodity container on which relies our globalised world. In Dakar, the artist discovers depleted, rusted and soiled materials, used until exhaustion - a stark contrast to those found in France. As he finds himself at the end of a consumption line, “la débrouille” (the act of sorting things out with what is available) becomes his operating mode. Like a worker, Kevin Rouillard repeats the same trying gesture from piece to piece: cutting, slicing, hammering and welding are the chores that compose his mechanical mantra.
Works
Biography
Kevin Rouillard (born 1989) is a sculptor. Kevin Rouillard's practice is part of a process of removal and recovery, which questions both the context of emergence of the forms he recovers,and the context of appearance of the works he creates.
He graduated with honours from ENSBA in Paris in 2014. His large assemblages of metal panels, the carcasses of burnt and unfolded cans, are for him a way of evoking the working class environment and the circulation of goods around the world.
Kevin Rouillard has had several solo exhibitions, including: "Taqale v.t < taq. Accoler, Souder, se Débrouiller", Selebe Yoon, Dakar, Senegal (2021); "Le Grand Mur", SAM Art Projects, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2020); "7/7" at Junqueira in Lisbon, Portugal (2018), "Extrait (Tôle, Choc)" at Galerie Thomas Bernard, Paris, France (2017) or "Collision" at The Chimney Gallery, New-York, USA (2017). His work has also been shown in numerous group exhibitions, including: « Slick & Rough », Xippas, Paris, France (2023); Exhibition Rolf Julius / Kevin Rouillard, Xippas, Paris, France (2022); RECYCLAGE-SURCYCLAGE, Villa Datris, Paris, France (2021); « Memory or Memories », Art & Communictation, Bordeaux, France (2020); «Masterpieces 2 », Galerie Thomas Bernard / Cortex Athletico, Paris, France (2019); Heavy metal, Galerie Jerôme Pauchant, Paris, France (2018); Autour du Nouveau Réalisme, Les dadas des Daniel, Les Abattoirs, Pyrénées, Toulouse, France(2017); The Future is the Future, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris, France (2016).
He took part in the 60th Salon de Montrouge (2015) and the Emerige Prize (2015); Yia Art Fair, Galerie Jeŕôme Pauchant, Le Carreau du temple, Paris, France (2014); Tendresse, Espace des Arts Sans Frontières, Paris, France; Jardin Ephémère, Saint-Ouen, France (2013).
Kevin Rouillard is the winner of the SAM Art Prize (2018) and the Fondation François de Hatvany Prize (2015), and has been resident at Selebe Yoon, Dakar, Senegal (2020); La Juqueira Residency, Lisbon, Portugal (2018); Adhex Technologies, Dijon, France (2017) and Astérides, Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille, France (2015).
He lives and works in Marseille, France.
Residency Video
