Born in the canton of Fribourg, Stéphane Dafflon was deeply marked by one of Yves Klein’s blue monochromes at the age of eight. Years later, he decided to enter the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne, from which he graduated in 1999 before starting to teach there in 2001. The artist’s painting practice comes to life both in and around the work—in the space and on the canvas. His sculptures, paintings, installations, and architecturally integrated works converse with the space, all guided by the “same intention”, to use his own words.
As Dafflon explains: “When we look at a painting, its interpretation takes place on a plane that is already a space—the space of the stretcher format. Then there’s a person’s displacement in a complete space. I like the link between the two movements, that of the eyes roaming a work, and that of the body in a space. I think both are important, so I can shift from one space to the other. The link lies in perception”.
Dafflon uses a computer as a sketchbook to test forms or compositions. This enables him to conceive and produce pieces at the intersection of art and design that are much more complex than they appear. Abstract and often minimal, they draw on a geometry of elementary shapes, which places them in an important lineage in the field of art: Swiss graphic design, Zurich concrete art of the 1930s, and the neo-geo movement of the 1980s. Between the perpetuation of concrete painting and the emergence of design, Stéphane Dafflon develops a very simple vocabulary of lines and shapes as minimal as they are elegant.
As Dafflon explains: “When we look at a painting, its interpretation takes place on a plane that is already a space—the space of the stretcher format. Then there’s a person’s displacement in a complete space. I like the link between the two movements, that of the eyes roaming a work, and that of the body in a space. I think both are important, so I can shift from one space to the other. The link lies in perception”.
Dafflon uses a computer as a sketchbook to test forms or compositions. This enables him to conceive and produce pieces at the intersection of art and design that are much more complex than they appear. Abstract and often minimal, they draw on a geometry of elementary shapes, which places them in an important lineage in the field of art: Swiss graphic design, Zurich concrete art of the 1930s, and the neo-geo movement of the 1980s. Between the perpetuation of concrete painting and the emergence of design, Stéphane Dafflon develops a very simple vocabulary of lines and shapes as minimal as they are elegant.
