Cyprien Gaillard

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Cyprien Gaillard, born in 1980 in Paris, is a French visual artist.

His work humorously explores the traces humanity leaves on nature, oscillating between minimalism, vandalism, romanticism, and land art. His body of work is highly varied, ranging from sculpture to painting, engraving to photography, and including video, performance, and public space interventions.^[1][2]

Born in Paris in 1980, Cyprien spent his childhood near Silicon Valley in California, where his father worked for the video game company Atari. During his urban escapades on a skateboard, he encountered his first ruins by exploring abandoned spaces and architecture. After returning to Paris, he had a rebellious adolescence and experienced land art for the first time with Real Remnants of Fictive Wars (a series of photographs and videos, 2003–2008), in which he filmed clouds of powder from stolen fire extinguishers that he released in a public garden. In 2004, he joined the École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne (ECAL).^[3]

He was awarded the Marcel Duchamp Prize on 23 October 2010.^[4]

Cyprien Gaillard's modus operandi transgresses moral and legal rules. He is notably influenced by the notion of entropy (the idea of disorder, and the transformative and destructive power of nature's forces) developed by land artist Robert Smithson, fueling his fascination with ruins. His work focuses on the remnants of modern architecture, often depicted as being overtaken by nature. Frequently, Gaillard describes his work as "vandalism."^[5]

Cyprien Gaillard posed for fashion photographer Terry Richardson for the fall/winter 2010 collection of the New York brand Supreme.

Since 2013, Cyprien Gaillard has been in a relationship with British model Lily Donaldson.^[6]

• 2005: Arcadi Publishing Grant.
• 2006: Individual Creation Grant, DRAC Île-de-France.
• 2007: Audi Talent Award.
• 2008: Académie Les David Award.^[7]
• 2010: Marcel Duchamp Prize.
• 2010: Karl-Ströher Prize.
• 2011: Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, Berlin.

• 2008: Glasgow 2014, curated by Tom Morton, Hayward Gallery, London.
• 2009: Sedimented Landscapes, Laboratorio 987, MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León.
• 2010: Cyprien Gaillard, Mario Garcia Torres, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington. Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main.
• 2011-2012: UR, Espace 315, Centre Pompidou, Paris.
• 2015: La Vie Moderne, 13th Biennale de Lyon, Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon.
• 2018: Nightlife, Fondation Louis-Vuitton, Paris.
• 2019: Venice Biennale, two installations (Ocean II Ocean, L'Ange du foyer (Vierte Fassung)).
• 2022: HUMPTY \ DUMPTY, exhibition in two parts at the Palais de Tokyo and Lafayette Anticipations, Paris.^[8]