Born 1992 in Paris, France.
Lives and works in Paris, France.
Solo Exhibitions
2026
- Léo Fourdrinier, Casado Santapau. Madrid, Spain. (Upcoming)
2025
- Les historiens du futur, Musée Henri Prades – Site archéologique de Lattara, en partenariat avec MO.CO. Montpellier
Contemporain, Lattes, France
2024
- POEMS HIDE THEOREMS, cur. Gaël Charbau, galerie Les filles du calvaire, Paris, France
- Rêveries Helléniques : L’Éclat du Crépuscule, Art Genève, galerie Les filles du calvaire, Genève, Suisse
2023
- Tous tes gestes sont des oiseaux, cur. Julien Carbone, Le Port Des Créateurs, Toulon, France
- Mās/seille: The limits of the Earth, at the end of Paradise, Art-O-Rama, HATCH gallery, cur. Joséphine Dupuy Chavanat, Marseille, France
2021-2022
- La lune dans un œil et le soleil dans l’autre, Centre d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes (CACN), cur. Bertrand Riou & Laureen Picaut, Nîmes, France
2020
- Pulse, Galerie l’axolotl, cur. Julien Carbone, Toulon, France- Spleen, The Breeder projects, Athens, GR
Group Exhibitions
2026
- Méditerranée, Odyssées contemporaines, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
2025
- LUGA 2025, Cercle Cité, Luxembourg
- Assemblages, bricolages, hybridations, Contemporary Art Center Meymac, France
- DOES ART LIVE IN THE REGION?, Couvent des Cordeliers, curated by Alexandre Roccuzzo, Châteauroux, France
- Art Paris, Les filles du calvaire gallery, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Cabinet of Extraterrestrial Art, CNES, National Center for Space Exploration, Paris, France
- Showroom, Les filles du calvaire gallery, Paris, France
2024
- HUMAN AFTER ALL, Le Port Des Créateurs & the UFR Ingémédia of the University of Toulon, France
- MOONN O))) 2, Espace à Vendre gallery, curated by Julien Griffaud, Nice, France
- Ar(t)chaeology, Sator gallery, Komunuma, Romainville, France
- REMIX. The Alienated of the Mobilier national, curated by René-Jacques Mayer & Cendrine de Susbielle, Hôtel des Arts contemporary art center TPM, 8th Design Parade Toulon festival by Villa Noailles, France
- Replacement II, Messeturm Basel 10, curated by Fakewhale.xyz, Basel, Switzerland
- FAILURES, Les filles du calvaire gallery, curated by Marty De Monterau, Paris, France
- PLATES & CREUSES, Hyperbien Gallery, Montreuil, France
- Ar Paris, Les filles du calvaire gallery, Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris, France
- Outland, curated by François Ronsiaux, Pavillon Carré de Baudouin, Paris, France
- Playful Spirits, curated by Julien Griffaud, Hôtel Windsor, Nice, France
2023
- The Lemon is the Most Sincere Flower, curated by Yvannoé Kruger, Les filles du calvaire gallery, Paris, France
- Unconditional?, curated by Mathias Courtet, Les Bains-Douches, Science Museum, Laval, France
- Gist Zennevallei Triennial, curated by Benedict Vandaele, Domein Calmeinn, Belgium
- Après vous, sur., Collectif Pièce Monté, Arts Department of ENS and ENSAD, Maison Fraternelle, Paris, France
- Marseille bébé, curated by Laetitia Ferrer, Les filles du calvaire gallery, Paris, France
- A Summer in Le Havre, curated by Gaël Charbau, Le Havre, France
- Remember Last Summer, curated by Julien Carbone, Le Port Des Créateurs, Toulon, France
- 4 Unique Days, Mata Capital & untitled consulting, Paris, France
- 15th Ephemeral Arts Festival, [duo with Clément Davout], Marseille, France
- Venus Beauty, curated by Silicone gallery, Off BAD+, Bordeaux, France
- 9th Emerige Revelation Grant x Institut Français Madrid x Arco Fair, curated by Gaël Charbau, Madrid, Spain
- Eros or the Phantasmagorias of Love, curated by Yann Pérol, l’axolotl gallery, Toulon, France
- Solar Sky, [duo with Clément Davout], Remarkable Garden of Baudouvin, France
2022
- 16th Lyon Biennale – MANIFESTO OF FRAGILITY, curated by Sam Bardaouil & Till Fellrath, Lyon, France
- 9th Emerige Revelation Grant, curated by Gaël Charbau & Mor Charpentier gallery, Paris, France
- 9th Emerige Revelation Grant x Villa Noailles, curated by Gaël Charbau, HDA TPM – art center, Toulon, France
- Confessions of a Mask, curated by Yann Pérol, l’axolotl gallery x Châteauvallon Liberté, Toulon, France
- TLN Festival, Le Port Des Créateurs, Toulon, France
- Garage Band, curated by HATCH, Paris, France
- Here Comes Summer, Generator exhibition, EESAB Quimper, France
- 72nd Young Creation Festival, Fondation Fiminco, Romainville, France
- 14th Ephemeral Arts Festival, Marseille, France
- Itinerancy – 14th Ephemeral Arts Festival, Plan-de-Cuques, France
- Oops, 10 Years, Anniversary exhibition, l’axolotl gallery, Toulon, France
2021
- The Organization of the Fall, Risograph Magazine, Toulon
- Dark Fire That Burns Everything, Le Port Des Créateurs, Toulon, France
- Reveries – a multidisciplinary exploration, [project by Jonathan Cyprès & Cécile Gallo], Le Lac, Brussels, Belgium
- Living Cube #5, Anniversary Edition, curated by Elodie Bernard, Orléans, France
- I Believe I Can Fly, Le Port Des Créateurs, Toulon, France
- The Garden of Eternity, carte blanche to Revue Point Contemporain, Eko Sato Gallery, Paris, France
- XOXO, l’axolotl gallery, Toulon, France
2020
- Generator Exhibition, curated by Bertrand Riou & Sonia D’alto, La Vigie Gallery, Nîmes, France (cancelled due to COVID-19)
- Living Cube #4, curated by Elodie Bernard, Orléans, France
- Diffractions, Art Au Centre Liège, Belgium
- With You I’d Go Anywhere, curated by Julien Paci, V’ROOM Gallery, Reims, France
- Exception of (not) being, decentralized group show curated by Essenza Club & Rhizome Parking Garage
- Pulse /ˈsɪstəm/, l’axolotl gallery, Toulon, France
- Solo Show: An Introduction to Covidian Aesthetics, curated by Underground Flower, Rhizome Parking Garage & Harlesden High Street (online) *I.R.L. (In Real Life)**, 4th Video Weekly Programme, curated by Aurélie Faure, Hestia Belgrade (online)
- HOST, online group show curated by CPU, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Eldorado #2: Love Seeker or Outlaw, La Société Des Nouveaux Mondes, Villeurbanne, France
- BAITBALL (01) “I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you”, with Essenza Club, curated by Like a little disaster & PANE project, Palazzo San Giuseppe, Polignano a Mare, Italy
- Caelesti, Le Port des Créateurs, Toulon, France
2019
- The Depressed Stars, Le Port Des Créateurs, Toulon, France
- UN MAXIMUM DE…, Collectif Ok, Saint Nicholas Church, Caen, France
- Mulhouse Biennale for Young Creation 2019, Collectif OK, Mulhouse, France
- SUAVE SUEUR, 40mcube, HubHug, Liffré, France
- SCHUSS, curated by La Montagne, Off ArtBrussels, La Vallée, Brussels, Belgium
- Plastic Love, curated by Pauline Creuzé & Jung Huh, 59 Rivoli Gallery, Paris, France
- OK LOTO BINGO, Collectif OK, Frac Normandie Caen, France
- Freund der Family, Winter Gallery Tour, SpinnereiGalleries, Leipzig, Germany
2018
- Léo Fourdrinier & Jana Papenbroock, curated by Patrick Carpentier, CCINQ, Brussels, Belgium
- À VENIR #2: Comfort Zone, Caen and Cherbourg, France
- Antics, sculpture installation in the garden of Le Confort Moderne, curated by Sarina Basta, France
- OK SEPULCRE, Collegiate Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Caen, France
- ACROSS THE NIGHT, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
- Where Are the Taxa, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
- In a Kind of Aided Disorder, curated by Jean-Christophe Arcos, L’Abbaye aux Dames, Caen, France
- OF ATAVISM, Igda 2.0 Gallery, Caen, France
- OK CARGÖ, Le Cargö, Caen, France
- The Edge, curated by Manon Ceyssel, Brussels, Belgium
2017
- ECHO(S), in partnership with Frac Normandie Caen, ésam Caen, France
- TO BE CONTINUED… 2017, curated by Louise Bernatowiez, ésam Caen, France
- Glue Eyes, curated by Lauren Coullard & Arnaud Deschin, Colletot, France
- À VENIR #1: The Problem of Reality, Caen, France
- Plastic Love, curated by Jung Huh, ésam Caen, France
- MAXI HARD LOUNGE DISCOUNT 5K, curated by Hugo Laporte, Galerie Point Commun, Cran-Gevrier, France
Selected Collections
- Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California, EE.UU
- Museo Kaluz, Mexico City, Mexico.
- Colección de Arte Chocolate Cortés, San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, USA.
- Colección Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, España.
- Colección Solo, Madrid, España.
- Colección Jorge M. Pérez, Miami. EE.UU.
- Colección Constantini, Buenos aires, Argentina.
- Arizona State University, ASU Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona, EE.UU.
- Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canadá.
- Blanton Museum, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, EE.UU.
- Centre Georges Pompidou, París, Francia.
- Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, Ciudad de México, México.
- Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga,Málaga, España.
- Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Reina Sofía, Madrid, España.
- Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo A.C., México DF, México.
- Cisneros Foundation, Miami, Florida, EE.UU.
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, EE.UU.
- Cincinnati Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, Ohio, EE.UU.
- Coral Capital Art Collection, Ciudad Panamá, Panamá.
- Daros Foundation, Zürich, Suiza.
- Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, EE.UU.
- The Farber Collection of Contemporary Cuban Art, Miami, Florida, EE.UU.
- The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Nueva York, Nueva York, EE.UU.
- Fredrick R. Weissman Art Foundation Beverly Hills, California, EE.UU.
- Fundación ARCO, Museo Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Compostela, España.
- Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, España.
- Guggenheim Museum, Nueva York, Nueva York, EE.UU.
- Harn Museum, Gainesville, Florida, EE.UU.
- Henry Art Gallery. University of Washington. Seattle, EE.UU.
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., EE.UU.
- Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, EE.UU.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Ángeles, California, EE.UU.
- Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aquisgrán, Alemania.
- LVMH / Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, París, Francia.
- Madeira Corporate Services Collection, Funchal, Portugal.
- Microsoft Art Collection, Seattle, Washington, EE.UU.
- Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery/National Gallery, Vancouver, Canadá.
- Musee des Beaux Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canadá.
- Musee d’Art Contemporain de Montreal, Quebec, Canadá.
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, EE.UU.
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, EE.UU.
- Museum of Modern Art, Nueva York, Nueva York.
- Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba.
- Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo MEIAC, Badajoz, España.
- Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, EE.UU.
- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, España.
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canadá.
- Palm Spring Museum. California.
- Tate Modern, Londres, Reino Unido.
- Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria.
- Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, EE.UU.
- University of California at Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, California, EE.UU.
- University of South Florida, Tampa, EE.UU.
- Whitney Museum of American Art, Nueva York, EE.UU.
Casado Santapau Gallery presents the new exhibition by Léo Fourdrinier.
Léo Fourdrinier’s practice is situated at the confluence of sculpture, installation, archaeology, science, and mythology. Through assemblages of found materials, industrial objects, organic forms, and modeled elements, the artist constructs a visual language in which heterogeneous times, references, and systems of knowledge coexist and transform.
His work begins with the recovery and displacement of existing forms to generate new associations. Fragments of the body, material remains, references to ancient statuary, popular culture, mechanics, art history, and science are all subjected to a process of recomposition. The assemblage thus becomes a tool for thought: each element retains its memory but acquires a new function within an unprecedented constellation.
In this practice, matter is not only a support but also a bearer of time. Fourdrinier works with anachronism as a method, making past and future, the archaic and the technological, the natural and the artificial coexist. From this friction emerge hybrid forms that challenge stable categories and open narratives akin to fiction, surrealism, and speculation. Mythology occupies a central place in this universe. It does not appear as a closed repertoire of historical narratives but as a still-active structure, capable of being reinterpreted from the present. The characters, symbols, and forms inherited from Antiquity are displaced into other contexts and confronted with contemporary imaginaries, producing new readings on desire, the body, transformation, memory, and the relationship between humanity and technology.
This speculative dimension also permeates his approach to science. Fourdrinier does not seek to reproduce existing systems of knowledge, but rather to appropriate their images, languages, and forms of representation to construct sensitive fictions. His work constantly moves between reality and fabulation, between observation and projection, transforming research into a poetic tool.
The result is a profoundly compositional practice, where structure and sensitivity, beauty and tension, organism and artifice coexist without resolving. The works seem to be in a state of permanent transformation: they are objects, but also fragments of possible narratives; sculptures, but equally vestiges of a past world or hints of one yet to come.
In this sense, Léo Fourdrinier’s work can be understood as a speculative archaeology. His sculptures do not reconstruct a past, but rather imagine how its remains might be read from another time. The artist thus proposes a continuous circulation between past, present, and future, where memory ceases to be a stable archive and becomes a living matter, susceptible to recombination.
This research has led to solo exhibitions at institutions and spaces such as the Centre d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes, the galerie Les filles du calvaire in Paris, and the Site archéologique Lattara – Musée Henri Prades, in collaboration with MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain. In 2026, his work was also included in projects such as Méditerranée, Odyssées contemporaines, at the Fondation Villa Datris, and La Vague Irrésolue (Nymphéa), presented with Clément Davout as part of Normandie Impressionniste. These key moments in his career come after his participation in the 16th Lyon Biennale in 2022. Notably, he has also been recognized as a finalist for the Emerige Price.
Born in 1992, Léo Fourdrinier lives and works in Toulon. His background, initially in theater and later in literature and the visual arts, contributes to a practice in which the construction of forms is closely linked to the construction of narratives. Represented by the galleries Les Filles du Calvaire in Paris and Casado Santapau in Madrid, his work is currently developing within an international context.
More than representing a world, Fourdrinier proposes to reconstruct it. His works function as connecting devices between different eras, materials, and forms of knowledge. In that intermediate space—between vestige and fiction, memory and anticipation—sculpture becomes a way of thinking about the present.
La práctica de Léo Fourdrinier se sitúa en un territorio de confluencia entre escultura, instalación, arqueología, ciencia y mitología. A través de ensamblajes de materiales encontrados, objetos industriales, formas orgánicas y elementos modelados, el artista construye un lenguaje plástico en el que tiempos, referencias y sistemas de conocimiento heterogéneos conviven y se transforman.
Su trabajo parte de la recuperación y desplazamiento de formas existentes para generar nuevas asociaciones. Fragmentos del cuerpo, restos materiales, referencias a la estatuaria antigua, la cultura popular, la mecánica, la historia del arte o la ciencia aparecen sometidos a un proceso de recomposición. El ensamblaje se convierte así en una herramienta de pensamiento: cada elemento conserva su memoria, pero adquiere una nueva función dentro de una constelación inédita. En esta práctica, la materia no es únicamente soporte, sino también portadora de tiempo.
Fourdrinier trabaja con el anacronismo como método, haciendo coexistir pasado y futuro, lo arcaico y lo tecnológico, lo natural y lo artificial. De esta fricción surgen formas híbridas que desafían las categorías estables y abren narrativas próximas a la ficción, al surrealismo y a la especulación. La mitología ocupa un lugar central en este universo. No aparece como un repertorio cerrado de relatos históricos, sino como una estructura todavía activa, capaz de ser reinterpretada desde el presente. Los personajes, símbolos y formas heredadas de la Antigüedad son desplazados hacia otros contextos y confrontados con imaginarios contemporáneos, produciendo nuevas lecturas sobre el deseo, el cuerpo, la transformación, la memoria y la relación entre humanidad y tecnología.
Esta dimensión especulativa atraviesa también su aproximación a la ciencia. Fourdrinier no busca reproducir sus sistemas de conocimiento, sino apropiarse de sus imágenes, lenguajes y formas de representación para construir ficciones sensibles. Su obra se mueve constantemente entre realidad y fabulación, entre observación y projection, convirtiendo la investigación en una herramienta poética.
El resultado es una práctica profundamente compositiva, donde estructura y sensibilidad, belleza y tensión, organismo y artificio coexisten sin resolverse. Las obras parecen encontrarse en un estado de transformación permanente: son objetos, pero también fragmentos de relatos posibles; esculturas, pero igualmente vestigios de un mundo anterior o indicios de uno todavía por venir.
En este sentido, la obra de Léo Fourdrinier puede entenderse como una arqueología especulativa. Sus esculturas no reconstruyen un pasado, sino que imaginan cómo podrían ser leídos sus restos desde otro tiempo. El artista propone así una circulación continua entre pasado, presente y futuro, donde la memoria deja de ser un archivo estable para convertirse en una materia viva, susceptible de ser recombinada.
Esta investigación ha dado lugar a exposiciones personales en instituciones y espacios como el Centre d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes, la galerie Les filles du calvaire en París y el Site archéologique Lattara – Musée Henri Prades, en colaboración con MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain. En 2026, su trabajo forma parte asimismo de proyectos como Méditerranée, Odyssées contemporaines, en la Fondation Villa Datris, y La Vague Irrésolue (Nymphéa), presentada junto a Clément Davout en el marco de Normandie Impressionniste. Estos momentos claves en su carrera suceden tras su participación en el décimo sexto Biennal de Lyon en 2022. Notablemente, también ha sido reconocido como finalista para el premio Emerige.
Nacido en 1992, Léo Fourdrinier vive y trabaja en Toulon. Su formación, vinculada inicialmente al teatro y posteriormente a la literatura y las artes visuales, contribuye a una práctica en la que la construcción de formas está estrechamente ligada a la construcción de relatos. Representado por las galerías Les filles du calvaire, en París, y Casado Santapau, en Madrid, su trabajo se desarrolla hoy en un contexto internacional. Más que representar un mundo, Fourdrinier propone recomponerlo. Sus obras operan como dispositivos de conexión entre diferentes épocas, materias y formas de conocimiento. En ese espacio intermedio —entre vestigio y ficción, memoria y anticipación— la escultura se convierte en una forma de pensar el presente.