Portrait d’un arbre, 2023

Claude-Yvan Conne  

Born in 1950, Claude-Yvan Conne graduated from Arts et Métiers de Vevey in Switzerland. ASCA therapist in Switzerland, he has developed various facets: on one side, decoration, architecture, or even interior architecture, and on the other, listening to a patient as a therapist.

It has been since the 1980s that Claude-Yvan Conne has developed a third facet, painting, always in search of the world around him. The artist has had numerous exhibitions including at the Unip Gallery in Lausanne, at the Loeb Gallery in Bern, at the Vis'Art Gallery in Lyon and at the United Nations in Geneva. His works are now part of many private and public collections.

Unlike the architect, Claude-Yvan Conne does not build what he paints. The artist grabs a subject and begins to work.

It is during this process that the painter and the medium enter into a dialogue, in search of a concordance, until a form of tacit agreement. This is where the artist loses control and the canvas begins its own existence. He works mainly in mixed media, mixing his own ingredients with acrylic paint. It proceeds by succession of glazes and personal components.

« I have always been aware of belonging to a "whole". So I transpose onto the canvas my provisional perception of reality, because we only see what we know.

In this sense, the cave paintings represent collective memories and I have the feeling of sharing something of our genetic heritage. Something that resonates with everyone. I like to work with various materials and paints.

I seek continuity by finding in my compositions the elements that embody collective memory. This presence is constant and I want to reveal it through my subjects. An exciting journey through time. This sometimes generates certain expressions specific to my subjects, characters, objects or landscapes ».

Claude-Yvan Conne