Clémence Gbonon

In her own words, compositions operate through a “junkyard” logic, in which objects, motifs, and traces of everyday life—sentimental, utilitarian, or discarded—collide in productive tension. These layered constellations reflect the contradictions of desire, privileging intuition, improvisation, and material experimentation. Gbonon’s work draws from vernacular and self-taught practices, including the work of Bob Thompson and Thornton Dial. In her paintings, gestures are allowed to flow and contract, creating pictorial spaces in which the unconscious can emerge.

Born in 1994 in France, she graduated from the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2024 and studied at The Cooper Union in New York, following earlier academic training in public international law and political science. Her time in the United States—particularly in Washington, DC, and New York—has been formative, deepening her engagement with American painting traditions, particularly figurative expressionism and its emphasis on color, physicality, and performative gesture.

Her work has been shown at the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Paris, France), Reiffers Art Initiatives (Paris, France), and MO.CO. Panacée (Montpellier, France). Internationally, she has exhibited at Bomb Factory Art Foundation (London, UK), Parfümerie (Frankfurt, Germany), FF Projects (Lagos, Nigeria), The Cooper Union (New York, NY), and Canada Gallery (New York, NY). In 2025, she was the recipient of the Sarr Prize, in partnership with Villa Albertine (Paris, France), and the Maurice Colin-Lefranc Painting Prize (Paris, France).