Nicolas Vionnet
(b. 1976, CH)
Nicolas Vionnet is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Zurich, Switzerland, whose work spans large-scale paintings, installations, public interventions, and object-based sculptures. Vionnet’s creative practice is characterized by its uncanny and ironic nature, exploring the often-overlooked and surprising space between irritation and integration, triggering curiosity through subtlety and wit.
At the core of Vionnet’s process is what he describes as a “non-hierarchical dialogue” between his works and their surroundings. He believes that art should not dominate its environment or dictate its meaning. Instead, his installations strive for a balance where the work and its context coexist, allowing viewers to perceive both simultaneously and differently. This approach includes the audience’s internal reactions—whether irritation, amusement, or confusion—as integral to the artwork’s meaning. According to Vionnet, “There shouldn’t be a hierarchy. Ideally, there is a balance between work and environment.”
As a result, his artistic approach emphasizes subtlety and integration, prioritizing a harmonious relationship between his work and its surroundings. As the artist explains, his focus is creating pieces that invite curiosity rather than demanding attention. Vionnet states, “I like to challenge the viewer and to trigger curiosity. I am not interested in works that are necessarily large-scale, over-stylized, super-colored, and scream for attention. I am interested in reduced work that includes the environment and integrates itself into the existing scenery, and I am looking for a fair balance.”
The artist’s fascination with irritation is evident in his conceptual approach. Think of his sculptural practice marked by the use of ready-mades and found objects in which his works frequently reframe familiar objects, creating tension between functionality and impossibility. For instance, in Always Stand on the Bright Side of Life (2019), a walking frame is fused with a floor lamp, combining two objects in a way that disputes their intended uses. Another piece, Rock’n’Roll (2014), consists of a typical old walking stick mounted on an industrial rubber wheel. These objects, paired with clever titles, elicit irritation, reflection, and even amusement. One encounters a similar sense of humor with a more stimulating undercurrent in Do Not Call Me Painting Again! (2013). A large canvas is covered with an industrially printed fabric featuring a retro floral pattern on a light blue background, with matching paint splatters on the wall and floor. The piece explores themes of deception, examining the periphery of design, art, mass production, and originality, where everything collides.
Vionnet’s installations extend his principle of integration and irritation into indoor and outdoor spaces. In Maria, If You Had Stayed Tough, We Would Have Been Spared Christmas (2016-2017), visitors are drawn to the sound of splashing water. The artist transformed the gallery space into an eerie and intimate bathroom with an old bathtub and a drawn shower curtain. This unexpected scene merges a mundane room with the unconventional setting of a museum, creating both integration and irritation. His outdoor installation and public intervention Catch Me If You Can (2008) at Weimarhallenpark involves creating a floating square lawn in the center of the park’s pond, highlighting its artificial symmetry and historical context. This organic lawn, subtly anchored yet mobile, creates an illusion of accessibility, reflecting the interplay between nature and artificiality.
Nicolas Vionnet was born in 1976 in Basel, Switzerland, and currently resides and works in Zurich, Switzerland. Vionnet holds an MFA from the Bauhaus University in Weimar and has received various individual honors over the years, winning Artist RADAR in Venice, Top 40 Winner by the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art at LACMA, and being shortlisted for the International Emerging Artist Award in Dubai. Notable exhibitions include participating in the 5th Odessa Biennale of Contemporary Art, the 4th Aarhus Biennale, the 3rd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, and group exhibitions at the Alpines Museum der Schweiz in Bern, Switzerland; Field Projects Gallery in New York, the United States of Amrica; The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum in Cheltenham, the United Kingdom; and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in Gimpo, South-Korea.
For more information, please consult the artist’s website here.
Cover image: Exhibition view of “To be honest, I never wanted to become an electrician anyway” (2021) at BBA Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Rick Schubert.
Last Updated on January 26, 2025
About the author:
Sylvia Walker (b. 1986, US) is an art historian, essayist, art critic, and curator. After contributing to numerous publications, and curating exhibitions in the United States of America and beyond, she currently works as the assistant director of Contemporary Art Issue (CAI).
