From April 11 to September 7, 2025
11 Quai de Conti, Paris
GRAFFITI X GEORGES MATHIEU
Geste, Vitesse, Mouvement
In parallel with the monographic exhibition in the historic salons, the Monnaie de Paris wanted to highlight the echoes of Georges Mathieu's work in the practices and artistic gestures of urban art by inviting graffiti artists from several generations to intervene on-site in the galleries of the meridian. They were invited to work around selected drawings of the painter, each chosen by the artists themselves. The practice of the "signature-sign," the speed of execution, public performances, and very large formats are all characteristics of Mathieu's painting that have inspired these artists.
Since the 1980s, while the contemporary art world turned away from Mathieu's painting, it has continued to fascinate various generations of American and European artists within the graffiti movement.
The curatorship of this exhibition was entrusted jointly to Éric de Chassey (co-curator of the Georges Mathieu exhibition) and the artists Lek & Sowat. They selected six artists who will confront their practices with works on paper by Georges Mathieu in-situ: JonOne, Lek & Sowat, Nassyo, Camille Gendron, and Matt Zerfa. An opening section will juxtapose some historical graffiti works and films with those of Mathieu. Two canvases from the early 1980s by Futura, a pioneer of the movement, and a video by Nug will be on display.
ARTISTS
Lek (1971, France) & Sowat (1978, France/USA)
Partners since 2010, Lek & Sowat share a common passion for urban exploration, a discipline that involves traversing the city in search of modern ruins. Pushing the boundaries of traditional graffiti, their projects combine architectural abstractions, deconstructed typography, ephemeral installations, and experimental videos. In 2024, the Centre Pompidou acquired a hybrid set of works by the duo, centered around their film Hope.
JonOne (1963, USA)
Of Dominican origin, JonOne was born in New York in the 1960s. Growing up in Harlem, he witnessed the birth of Hip-Hop culture and honed his craft by tagging trains and the walls of his neighborhood from the age of seventeen. In 1987, after meeting the French artists Bando and Rockin’Squat, he left the bustling New York scene to settle in Paris, at the legendary Stalingrad spot. This marked the beginning of a new chapter for the artist: that of the canvas. Since then, he has undertaken numerous projects around the world with major institutions such as the French National Assembly in Paris, the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar, and the Forbidden City in Beijing, China.
Nassyo (1974, France)
Of Moroccan origin and born in Paris in 1974, Nassyo discovered graffiti in the 1990s and gained attention with a series of vandalistic paintings on the rooftops of Paris, as well as numerous colorful murals in the city’s wastelands. Influenced by comic books, cinema, music, and science fiction, his style stands out for its freedom and an innate sense of improvisation. In 2016, he won the first SAIMA Prize for Contemporary Creation from the Friends of the Institute of the Arab World.
Camille Gendron (1992, France)
Whether through a technical or theoretical approach, Camille Gendron conducts research focused on the dynamic principle of aerosol painting and its impact on the gesture. Originally from the island of Noirmoutier, she grew up in an environment deeply influenced by the rhythm and power of the elements. She pursued higher education at the University of Nantes, earning a double Bachelor's degree in Art History and Archaeology, followed by a Master's degree in Heritage Management. In 2024, she was invited to participate in the exhibition Aerosol. A History of Graffiti at the Museum of Fine Arts in Rennes.
Matt Zerfa (1992, France)
Originally from the city of Niort, Matt Zerfa discovered graffiti in the early 2000s through a friend's blackbook from school. From then on, this practice would shape much of his adolescence. Heir to the lettering style that marked the beginning of his practice, he retains a taste for precise lines, incisive shapes, and saturation. Having become an art director after studying at the School of Image in Nantes, he now experiments with a style of painting inspired by nature, situated at the crossroads of Impressionism and abstraction..
First part of the exhibition
GEORGES MATHIEU - Geste, Vitesse, Mouvement
From April 11 to September 7, 2025
In March-April 1971, Georges Mathieu, at the peak of his fame, presented his "Medals and Paintings" in the historic salons of the Monnaie de Paris. More than 50 years after this event, the Monnaie de Paris, now in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, is organizing a new exhibition dedicated to the artist in the same historic spaces. No other painter, at any time, has had such a profound impact on the visual environment of his contemporaries: his abstract images, which became his signature style, were not only embodied in paintings but also on all the mediums of modernity—from posters to television credits, and on coins and medals—while the artist himself was forging an extraordinary public persona.