Artist Statement

Bénédicte Thoraval is a French artist and curator based in Brooklyn, NY. She explores resilience from nonhuman perspectives. She holds an Art MFA from Ensba Lyon (2010) and a Art Book Publishing MFA from Université Jean Monnet (2011). She is a recipient of the DRAC PACA fellowship (2016), which financed the publication of “Sweet Light” (2017), currently available in several art book stores across NYC, Paris and Brussels. In 2018, her work as curator for the artist run space Metaxu (France), earned a CNAP (Centre National des ArtsPlastiques) Programme Suite Grant, a recognition for experimental curatorial practices in France.She has previously collaborated with sculptors, graphic artists, toy designers and animators.

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In Thoraval's opinion, drawings are an open form. Their materiality and scale can change according to the context. Her drawings are created by "layers" at different times. The immediacy of a drawing challenges or questions by gesture and deferred temporality. In fact the drawings are often scanned, digitally retouched and reworked by hand. Consequently, it is difficult to distinguish between the original and the reproduction. In Thoraval's recent drawings she tries to crystalize the movement between figure and abstraction.