Guillaume Pilet | 2018 Residency
Mainland China | Visual Arts
Sept.6 to Dec.2, 2018 — Visual Arts
Nationality: Switzerland
Residency location: China
Partner organization: Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts (SIVA)
Guillaume Pilet was born in 1984, and currently lives and works in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has received “Swiss Art Award” in 2009 and 2010, and was selected as “Collection Cahiers d’Artistes” by Pro Helvetia in 2010.
Since 2005, Guillaume Pilet has been involved in polymorphic and decompartmentalized experimentation. Based on a large and unrestrictive comprehension of the history of classical art since prehistory, his curiosity has developed within Aby Warburg’s conception of the world of images as ghost stories for adults. If the notion of style has no longer any formal sense, it can still be regarded as an aesthetic of action. To a large degree, the primary ideal of creativity is at the center of the work process. Consequently, nothing separates art from craft, environment from architecture, artwork from usual objects, iconic images from generic images, individualistic expression from exhibition strategies any longer.
Guillaume Pilet wishes to decompartmentalize practices and styles. One might feel puzzled by his work, for it shakes up one’s perception of the typology one associates with an artist’s practices. Pilet’s work cannot be reduced to a formal lexicon and his will to escape styles and references reveal both a wisdom and a curiosity.