Aline Girard, ceramist, and Gwendal Coulon, artist, came together at the Foundation for a research project on table service. Their project “Including service”, combines the ceramic technics and the practice of painting. They won’t imagine a new creation or an original design, but will start from existing objects and will exhaust their forms through constantly repeating the same gesture. Obviously this service will not be functional but will testify of a research about taking a step aside from objects and bypassing their uses, in particular by associating statements and small messages offered to the free interpretation of each one.

Aline Girard, born in 1976, lives and works in Paris.

After graduating from ENSAAMA (Olivier de Serres, Paris) in design and communication, and then from the University Paris VIII (Seine Saint-Denis, 93) in fine arts and aesthetic theory, Aline Girard began working with ceramics in 2015. In 2021, she joined the collective workshop ARC (Pré-Saint-Gervais), where she developed her practice and various artistic collaborations. She had her first exhibition showcasing her pieces in 2019 at the SPEND gallery, curated a group exhibition at the Gaudel de Stampa gallery in 2021, and will exhibit in that same gallery in the spring of 2023. Aline Girard completed her first residency at Octave Cowbell (Metz) in the summer of 2022.

Aline Girard explores multiple aspects of working with clay, from collecting wild clays to, most recently, 3D printing. She conducts research on glazes, slip decoration and sculpture, and combines patchwork assemblies, seeking the inevitable breaking point in firing. She also plays with combining different textures, such as matte, waxy, and granular, with glossy and vitreous surfaces in colors reminiscent of stones and mosses, as if to reform rocks and sedimentation.

Gwendal Coulon, born in 1990 in Pontoise, lives and works in Metz.

After graduating from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2019, winning the Sculpture/Installation Prize of the Fondations des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2019, he joined the Collection of Frac Poitou-Charentes in 2021 and the Collections of CNAP in 2023. His work has been presented at MRAC (Sérignan), Fondation Ricard (Paris), La Station (Nice), Frac Franche-Comté (Besançon), Gaudel de Stampa gallery (Paris), Crédac (Ivry-sur-Seine), CAC (Brétigny), and Art-o-rama (Marseille).

Gwendal Coulon’s artistic practice – whether it be performance, painting, text, drawing, sculpture, editorial project, installation or video – is certainly a step aside, or rather a provocation. His propositions are never really intended to be cynical or deceptive, but on the contrary, tend to reveal certain natures. Through slippages, references, and detours, he studies the conditions of creation and visibility of painting while incorporating poetic elements. He seeks to reveal the flaws and stagings of the artist and his world.