Guillaume Talbi
« Sculpture and drawing have always been, for me, a space for dialogue. To represent is to invent forms and give them a body within space, creating a kind of conversation with the viewer. The more freely I can play with materials and expressions, the more alive and present the work becomes, like a home, open to anyone who looks. »
Born in 1987 in Châteauroux, France, Guillaume Talbi lives and works between Paris and China. He graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and collaborates with Alain Gutharc Gallery (Paris) and Carte Blanche Gallery (Beijing, Hangzhou).
His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in France and internationally, including: Le LaM, Villeneuve-d’Ascq (Museum of Modern Art, Contemporary Art, and Outsider Art, 2016); Drawing Now Art Fair, Paris (Contemporary Drawing Salon, 2016, 2025); Yishu 8 – House of Arts, Beijing (2018); Eleven Steens Art Center, Brussels (2019); Chapelle de la Visitation, Thonon-les-Bains (2020); Musée Guimet and Hôtel Particulier Heidelbach, Paris (2022); Nouvel Institut Franco-Chinois, Lyon (2024); and Shun Art Gallery, Tokyo (2026).
As both a draftsman, painter, and sculptor, the artist develops a body of work where color and material hold a central place. His artistic approach is rooted in the idea of a place.
The works he creates take the form of anthropomorphic, animal, and plant-like shapes,
materializing through the medium to form a hybrid world. He breathes life into them through the gestures of his hands, favoring a direct connection with materials such as clay, plaster, cement, resin, wax, wood, stone, metal, paper, and others. By constantly experimenting with materials, he allows himself to be surprised by their poetic and enigmatic qualities. He works in an empirical manner, using his own processes of creation and construction logic, in which the passage of time remains visible. The material retains the imprint of the fingers, naturally giving rise to works that embody an experience of time—an experience made tangible by the hand.
