Rafael Grassi (eng)
Rafael Grassi
Switzerland, 1969
In his works, Rafael Grassi reconciles a deep attachment to pictorial material with a taste for creating an illusion of perspective and deceptive figuration. Figures serve as a starting point that gradually decomposes, freeing itself from preconceived meanings and generating a pictorial surface full of paradoxes and chromatic diversity.
Formal analogies, paradoxes, and linguistic contaminations are some of the notions evoked in his painting. Photographic images act as an initial reference, triggering a process of successive manipulation and metamorphosis that preserves the trace of a decaying image. In this transformation, formerly narrative elements emancipate themselves on the canvas, reclaiming an autonomy freed from meaning.
Grassi holds a degree in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid. Since the 1990s, he has exhibited in galleries and art centers across France, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy. His solo exhibitions have taken place in institutions such as the Centre d’Art de Dompierre, the Fond d’Art Contemporain de Montluçon, the Colegio de España in Paris, Palazzo Mezzabarba in Pavia, and the Valérie Larbaud Cultural Center in Vichy.
His works are part of collections such as Fundació Banc Sabadell, Fundació La Caixa, Olor Visual, the Italian Ministry of Culture, FRAC Auvergne, Collection Passimessa Clermont-Ferrand, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Collection Municipale d’Art Contemporain de Vitry-sur-Seine, the Contemporary Art Collection of the Canton of Zurich, the Peter Nobel Collection, the PRISA Collection, and the Helga de Alvear Collection.
Rafael Grassi. Ikebana. 2024. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 cm
Rafael Grassi. Flamme. 2024. Oil on canvas. 40 x 30 cm
Rafael Grassi. Juegos florales. 2022. Oil on canvas. 40 x 30 cm
Rafael Grassi. Forms of Life. 2022. Oil on canvas. 230 x 180 x 5 cm
Rafael Grassi. Inseln #3 / Utopía. 2022. Oil on canvas. 180 x 140 cm
Rafael Grassi. Under construction I. 2020. Oil on canvas. 40 x 30 cm
Rafael Grassi. Patient candle. 2020. Oil on canvas. 50 x 40 cm
Rafael Grassi. Floration VIII. 2016. Acrylic on canvas. 60 x 50 cm
Rafael Grassi
Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2024
Inventario. NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2023
Ort/Dinge/Figure. Galerie zum Kranz, Ransem
2022
Forms of Life. Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg
Weder Sträusse noch Vasen. Sam Scherrer Contemporary, Zurich
2021
Presencias. NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2018
Easy Paintings. Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg
2016
In the Eye of the Hurricane. NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2013
Eye for an Eye. NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2012
Eye for an Eye. Galerie Frédéric Paumier, Paris
2010
On the Art of Killing Time. NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
Pinocchio and the Eleven Thousand Virgins. Galerie Eric Mircher, Paris
2009
Paintings. Galerie Frédérique Paumier, Paris
Paintings. City Gallery of Vitry-sur-Seine
2008
Intimacy of Surfaces. Galerie Defrost, Paris
Fakten und Resultate. FAL, Clermont-Ferrand
Love Me Two Times. L’attrape-couleurs, IX City Hall, Lyon
Gegen Weiss II. Rafael Grassi and Oliver Krähen. White Space, Zurich
2007
On the Art of Killing Time. Contemporary Art Fund of Montluçon
Each Time, First Time. Galerie Defrost, Paris
2006
…………………… (Paintings). Espace Boudeville, Dompierre-sur-Bresbre
Painting, That’s Where I Live. NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2005
Parcours. Valérie Larbaud Cultural Center, Vichy
Paintings. Dompierre Art Center
2004
Paintings. La Coopérative de Mai, Clermont-Ferrand
2002
Paintings. Eude Gallery, Barcelona
2001
Scenography. The Sick, by Antoni Alamo. Théâtre des Opprimés, Paris
2000
State of Affairs. Colegio de España, Paris
1999
Paintings. NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
1998
Epifania delle Assenze. Chapel of Palazzo Mezzabarba, Pavia
1997
Light Traps. Corridoi Project Room, Milan
Artist’s Studio. Gstaad
1993
Fragments. El Foro Cultural Center, Madrid
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2024
Art Week Luxembourg, Nosbaum Reding
ARCO, Madrid, NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ
Shifting Reality, Galerie Halle 710, Winterthur
Flower Power, Kantonsspital Graubünden, Chur
No Place, NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
Ob-Achtsamkeit, Museum Sankturbanhof, Sursee
2023
And Now the Good News. Works from the Nobel Collection, Pera Art Museum, Istanbul
Annual Exhibition of Artists from the Canton of Grisons, Kunstmuseum Chur
Landscape in Sight, Kunsthaus Elsau
Halle 710, Winterthur
2022
Fokus, Kunst Museum Winterthur
ARCO, Madrid, NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ
2021
WHATS UP. Galerie Weiertal, Winterthur
Hobelwerk, Winterthur
2020
Werkschau 2020, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
Villa Sträuli, Winterthur (with Eveline Cantieni, Theres Wey and Theres Liechti)
Annual Exhibition of Artists from the Canton of Grisons, Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur
2019
It Ain’t Much I’m Asking, If You Want The Truth. Knoerle and Bättig Gallery, Winterthur
Oil on Canvas. OXYD Kulturzentrum, Wülflingen
Human Being, Being Human. Galerie Weiertal, Winterthur
Novembre à Vitry / 50, Vitry-sur-Seine, Paris
2018
Werkschau 2018, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
2016
And Now The Good News, LAC Lugano, Peter Nobel Collection
Hippocamps, University of Alicante Museum
On What the Beauty of Embraces Depends, FRAC Clermont-Ferrand
GEGEN WEISS: Drawing Peripheries, Palais für Aktuelle Kunst, Gluckstadt, curated by CAPI, Berlin
Manifestement, Attrape-Couleurs, Lyon
2014
Star-system Project. Coucou Kultumagazin, Winterthur
2013
Re Gegen Weiss. Galerie Remise, Zurich
2011
ReCover. Frosch & Portmann Gallery, New York
2010
Point Against Point, with Pipo Hernández Rivero. Galería Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca
2009
December Exhibition, Kunsthalle, Winterthur
Pieces à Part, Galerie Eric Mircher, Paris
Unjuried Exhibition, Winterthur
ArteFiera, NF/NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid
2008
Fundación Guasch Couranty, Barcelona
2007
Soll und Haben. Villa Sträuli, Winterthur
Salon International de Peinture, Vitry-sur-Seine
European Painting Prize ‘Sovereign Art Foundation’, London
XXII Salon d’Art Contemporain de Montrouge
2006
51st Salon d’Art Contemporain de Montrouge
2005
Apartment 190, Cité de Bien Assis, Montluçon
2004
Shakers Act IV. La Tôlerie Contemporary Art Space, Clermont-Ferrand
Contemporary Horizons, Shakers Act III, Château de la Louvière, Montluçon
We Are All Contemporaries, Shakers Act II, Château de la Louvière, Montluçon
Disobedient Odalisques, Domérat
H2O. Salon of Young Contemporary Creation, Vichy
2003
Art at Play, Act I, Regional Contemporary Art Fund, Montluçon
2001
I Eat the Kitchen, Cité Internationale Universitaire, Paris
1999
This Is Not a Gallery, Paris
1996
The Measure of the Body, Maison de la Photographie Valdôtaine, Aosta
Homage to the Generation of ’27, itinerant
Painting on Purpose. Homage to Gerardo Diego, Centro Cultural de la Villa, Madrid
Do Not Walk on the Grass, Galerie Severgnini, Milan
1993
Painting Poetry, Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid
1992
Fine Arts School of Poznan
Salon of Debutants, Slagharen
Galería Roch Minué, Palma de Mallorca
Collections (selection)
Helga de Alvear Collection
Colecció Testimoni, Fundació La Caixa, Barcelona
Colegio de España Collection, Paris
Grupo Prisa Collection
Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Collection
Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage Collection
Olor Visual Collection, Barcelona
Banc Sabadell Collection, Barcelona
Press
2021 – ABC Cultural – »El nuevo tono de la melancolía de Rafael Grassi» – By Fernando Castro Flórez