Claudia Comte

Claudia Comte (born 1983 in Grancy, Switzerland) is a Swiss artist.[1] Comte works in a variety of media including sculpture, engraving,[2][3] installation[4] murals and painting.[5][6]

Claudia Comte was born in 1983 in Grancy, in Switzerland. The forest and all its natural elements, together with a passion for fiction, comics, and cartoons, science-fiction films and video games, all contribute to the formation of her artistic language, which references both the real and the imaginary. Comte has earned a revered place in the permanent collection of the Castello di Rivoli and her artistic influence resonates across esteemed institutions like Kunstmuseum Luzern, Copenhagen Contemporary and Thyssen-Bornemisza Madrid.[7]

Working across site-specific installation, painting, sculpture, video, performance and wall painting, her practice reflects her longstanding interest in translating the history and memory of biomorphic forms through traditional hand processes, industrial and machine technologies. Comte’s installations include monumental wall paintings and serial sculptures inspired by organic patterns and morphology such as waves, sonar, cacti and rock strata. Through her art, Comte is drawing on the powers of communication, knowledge and symbiosis between animal and plant life. Comte’s dynamic and shape-shifting objects pay testament to the intelligence and transformative capacities of the ecological world.[8]  

The trunks that Comte works with are never cut by, or for, her but are salvaged, offered to her by Swiss foresters working in her native region near Lausanne, at the foot of the Jura Mountains. Once a tree has been found, and embraced, the artist decides on the outline of the piece, shaping it directly with a chainsaw before refining, polishing and oiling it, by hand, to a smooth finish using her mother’s own special oil and wax formula.

The marble works are initially hewn digitally, and then manually finished through sanding. The paintings, which consist largely of targets and striped wall paintings, unequivocally issue from the tradition of hard-edge geometric abstraction, which characterizes one strain of Swiss painting. They are made through the usual process of taping off sections, applying paint and removing tape. The sculptures and paintings are almost always originally presented in installations in which the design, from the color of the walls to the sculptures’ plinths, is site-specific and integral to the exhibition.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

  • L’Echo, standard deluxe, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2007
  • Inimitable, Galerie Lucy Mackintosh, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2008
  • Georges abstraction surface air, Bureau des vidéos, Le George, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 2008
  • Video projection, Rêves, Window of Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France, 2008
  • Rond Point, Darse Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland, 2009
  • You cut but you can’t, with Mélodie Mousset, Galerie 20qmberlin, Berlin, Germany, 2009
  • Naturalisés, collaboration with Tatiana Rihs, Musée Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2009
  • Welcome to Colorful, Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010
  • Scantione-Tensione, Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy, 2011
  • IBIZA, Milieu Gallery, with Vittorio Brodmann, Bern, Switzerland, 2011
  • Trouble Rainbow II, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, Favorite Goods, Los Angeles, USA, 2011
  • Trouble Rainbow, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch, Roma, Italy, 2011
  • Estampes, Studio Raynald Métraux, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2011
  • NO LEMON NO MELON, Tripode, Nantes, France, 2012
  • From Zanzibar to Acapulco, with Guillaume Pilet, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland, 2012
  • Trouble Rainbow III, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland, 2012
  • Vanity Loop, Kunst am Bau, Yverdon Gymnasium, Canton Vaud, Switzerland, 2012
  • From Acapulco to Zanzibar, with Guillaume Pilet, La Rada, Locarno, Switzerland, 2012
  • All Work and All Play, Toshiba House, Besançon, France, 2013
  • Claudia Comte & Omar Ba, Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland, 2013
  • Wir baden auf der Freianlage, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, 2013
  • If I were a rabbit, where would I keep my gloves?, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland, 2013
  • X, Y, Z, Friart, Centre d’Art de Fribourg, Switzerland, 2013
  • Summer Villa Extension, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France, 2013
  • Le Passage de L’Etoile, with Guillaume Pilet, Vevey, Switzerland, 2014
  • Fluide Glacial, LISTE, with BolteLang, Basel, 2014
  • Solo presentation Art Brussels, with Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, 2014
  • Easy Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland, 2014
  • Sharp Sharp, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, Ireland, 2014
  • Sonic Geometry, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland, 2015
  • Sonic Geometry, Galerie Art et Essaie, Rennes, France, 2015
  • Story Bumping, Milieu Galerie, Bern, Switzerland, 2015
  • No Melon No Lemon, Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA, 2015
  • Welcome to Colorful, Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2015
  • The Curves, the Corners and the Machines, Festival International d‘Art Toulouse at le Bazacle, Toulouse, France, 2016
  • Zigzag division, Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2016
  • Catch The Tail By The Tiger, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2016
  • The Primary Fondue Party, performance organized with BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland, 2016
  • The Primary Fondue Party, Salon Suisse: ATARAXIA / Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 2017
  • La Ligne Claire, curated by Samuel Leuenberger at Basement Roma, Rome, Italy, 2017
  • Black and White Circles in the Sky, solo exhibition curated by Christoph Doswald, Münsterhof, Zurich, Switzerland, 2017
  • NOW I WON, curated by Chus Martinez, Messeplatz, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 2017
  • 10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum, Luzern, Switzerland, 2017
  • Solo booth for ArtGeneve, with König Galerie, ArtGeneve 2017, Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland, 2017
  • Fruits and Bodies, Villa Wenkenhof & Alexander Clavel Prize 2018, Switzerland, 2018
  • When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2018
  • Electric Burst (Lines and Zigzags), Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, USA, 2018
  • Zigzags and Diagonals, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, USA, 2018
  • How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy, 2019
  • Fruits and Jungle, König Galerie, London, UK, 2019
  • The Cavern of Lost Dreams (nine characters), Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, 2019
  • Bunnies and ZigZag, Galerie Joy de Rouvre, Geneva, Switzerland, 2019
  • I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2019
  • The Morphing Scallops, Gladstone Gallery, 24th St, New York, USA, 2019
  • The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Austria, 2020
  • Corals and Jungle, CLAUDIA COMTE x KÖNIG GALERIE, Kunsttage Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 2020
  • Tree Line Curve, Rolex Learning Center, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland, 2021
  • The Interview Paintings Ensemble (mise en scène in 12 Acts), Art Basel Parcours, StadtCasino, Basel, Switzerland, 2021
  • After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen - Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain, 2021
  • Dreaming of Alligator Head, König Digital, König Galerie, 2021
  • Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2021
  • Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2022
  • Through Dry Ocean Forests, Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid, Spain, 2022
  • Five Marble Leaves, Central Wharf Park, Boston, USA, 2022
  • An Impending Disaster (hahaha), König Galerie im Kleines Haus der Kunst, Vienna, Austria, 2022
  • Cacti, Waves and Sunsets, Globus Public Art Project in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 2023
  • Marine Wildfire & Underwater Forests, Gladstone Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, 2023
  • From Where We Rise, Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico, 2023
  • Ascending the Ashes: A Tale of Renewal, K&L Museum, Seoul, Korea, 2024
  • There Was No Up, There Was No Down, There Was No Side To Side, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China, 2024
  • Birds and Trees, permanent installation, Cosmos Dübendorf, Zurich, Switzerland, 2024
  • Home Sweet Home, Vistamare, Milano, Italy, 2024
  • The Origin of the Shockwave Ripple Effect (yellow and turquoise), EMST, Athens, Greece, 2024
  • Lost in the Forest, OMR, Mexico City, Mexico, 2025
  • Lightning Symphony, ESC, Messeplatz, Basel, Switzerland, 2025

Group exhibitions

  • Accrochage, Vaud 2005, collective exhibition, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2005
  • Académie de sculpture, proposition by Pierre Vadi, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland, 2005
  • Les Urbaines, young videographers at the Cinemathèque Suisse, « Rêves », Lausanne, Switzerland, 2005
  • Cabinet Budget, collective exhibition, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland, 2006
  • Sonal, collective exhibition of sound installations, Arsenic, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2006
  • Sublime, collective exhibition, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland, 2006
  • Morgenstern, collective exhibition, Château de Morges, Morges, Switzerland, 2006
  • Mini-golf, collective exhibition, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2006
  • Weihnachtsmarkt, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland, 2007
  • Athéne, Claudia, Orlane, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland, 2007
  • Patapsychique, Library of the Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France, 2008
  • Le Spectrarium, Le Corbusier Pavilion, Cité universitaire, Paris, France, 2008
  • Made by ECAL, Espace lausannois d’art contemporain, Renens, Switzerland, 2008
  • Abstraction-Extension, Fondation Salomon, Alex, France, 2008
  • That’s all Folks!, Chez Popper, Geneva, Switzerland, 2008
  • X, proposed by N. Wagnières, galerie 1m3, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2008
  • Black Diaspora, exposition collective, Galerie Out of this World, Montreux, Switzerland, 2008
  • I could do that! No, you could’t!, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland, 2009
  • Kawabanga, Espace Delrue, La Barthoteque, Nantes, France, 2009
  • Condominia, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland, 2009
  • I am by birth a Genevese, Espace Forde, Geneva, Switzerland, 2009
  • I am by birth a Genevese, Vegas Gallery, London, UK, 2009
  • Transit, collective urban exhibition, Renens, Switzerland, 2009
  • Jeune Création 2010, Le CENTQUATRE, Paris, France, 2010
  • Minipic, Pauline’s, New York, USA, 2010
  • 10 ans du MUDAC, collaboration with Tatiana Rihs, Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010
  • Territoires, Bex & Arts, Swiss Sculpture Triannual, Bex, Switzerland, 2011
  • Train Fantôme, Cruise and Callas Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2011
  • Rock The Casbah, Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy, 2011
  • 20 ans des espaces d’une sculpture, Visarte Vaud, Parc de Mont Repos, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2011
  • Le Fédéral à Semen-Contra, Rotwand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, 2011
  • Accrochage Vaud 2011, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2011
  • Under 30, Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland, 2012
  • La jeunesse est un art, Kunsthaus Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland, 2012
  • Tell The Children / Abstraction pour enfant, La Salle de Bain, Lyon, France, 2012
  • If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend 6 sharpening my ax, Kunst Raum, Riehen, Switzerland, 2012
  • Post-Mortem, Forde, Geneva, Switzerland, 2013
  • Draft for a particular vision of the future, Bar Babette, Berlin, Germany, 2013
  • Châteaux Secrets, Fondation Ricard, Iles des Embiez, 2013
  • Mixed Message Media, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA, 2013
  • Harum Scarum, Galerie Blancpain, Geneva, Switzerland, 2013
  • Paraphernalia, Telemark Contemporary Art Center, Skien, Norway, 2013
  • Elevation 1049, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gstaad, Switzerland, 2014
  • Post-Op. Perceptual Gone Painterly / Du perceptuel au pictural. 1958 – 2014, curated by Matthieu Poirier, Galerie Perrotin, Paris France, 2014
  • BolteLang Stadtbiotop 2014, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland, 2014
  • Bex & Arts, triennale de la sculpture Suisse, Bex, Switzerland, 2014
  • Ars Multiplicata, Kunsthalle Koidl, Berlin, Germany, 2014
  • Christmas show, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland, 2015
  • Des Seins à Dessein, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2015
  • Ligne Aveugle, ISBA, Besançon, France, 2015
  • Full House, Bunk Club at Shanaynay, Paris, France, 2015
  • Architecture & Nature, curated by Simon Lamunière, Domaine de Muy, Contemporary Sculpture Park, France, 2015
  • My Lonely Days Are Gone Part 2, curated by Arturo Herrera, Arratia Beer, Berlin, Germany, 2015
  • Art Imprimé, Triennale 2015, Musee des Beaux-Arts Le Locle, Le Locle, Switzerland, 2015
  • Môtiers Art en plein air 2015, Môtiers, Switzerland, 2015
  • Gargle/Spit, curated by Kenny Schachter, TBD, New York, USA, 2015
  • Work Hard: Selections by Valentin Carron, Swiss Institute, New York, USA, 2015
  • Reliability of Recognition, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland, 2015
  • 128 triangles and their demonstration, Installation for the Public sector at ArtBasel Miami Beach, USA, 2016
  • The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, City Hall Park Lower Manhattan, New York, USA, 2016
  • UM DIE ECKE DENKEN – DIE SAMMLUNG (1986-2016), Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland, 2016
  • Tous les tableaux sont à l’envers, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2016
  • /Quiz 2, Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 2016
  • Crib II, curated by Yves Scherer, Galerie 95, Biel, Switzerland, 2017
  • SkulptureKöln #9 "La Fin de Babylone. Mich wundert, dass ich so fröhlich bin!”, curated by Chus Martinez, Sculpture Park Cologne, Germany, 2017
  • Beneath the Salt, presented by Conglomerate with Joe Clark and Lauryn Youden, Kinderhook and Caracas, Berlin, Germany, 2017
  • Curves and Zigzags, Desert X, Palm Springs, USA, 2017
  • Geometric Opulence, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland, 2022
  • Desert X AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia, 2022
  • Voices in the Evening, Vistamare, Milan, Italy, 2022
  • Abundant Futures, C3A Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain, 2022
  • Omnibus, Kinderhook & Caracas, Berlin, Germany, 2022
  • Hypermaremma, Pescia Fiorentina, IT, 2022
  • The Bright Side of the Desert Moon, Noor Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2023
  • Solo Summer Group Show III at Solo Houses, Matarraña, Spain, 2023
  • Hot Saw - Power Edition, Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark, 2023
  • The Liberation of Form. Barbara Hepworth - A Master of Abstraction in the Mirror of Modernism, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany, 2023
  • Desert Flood, LagoAlgo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2023
  • The Big Marble Trio (cactus, leaf and coral) and Digging Snakes (freestanding wallpainting), Jing'an International Sculpture Project, Shanghai, China, 2024
  • Regenerative Futures, Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium, 2024
  • NEOGEO - Décalagés féminins, Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2025
  • Hodler. Un modèle pour l’art suisse, Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 2025
  • Temporal Drift (coral, leaf, cactus), Art Basel, Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland, 2025
  • Whoever Has Learned How to Listen to Trees, Domaine du Muy, Le Muy (Var), France, 2025

Collections

Her work is included in the collections of the:

  • Art Collection of the Canton Zürich (CH)
  • Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore (USA)
  • BCV Art collection (CH)
  • Castello di Rivoli, Turin (IT)
  • Collection Bundesamt für Kultur (CH)
  • Collection of ECAL - Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (CH)
  • Collection of Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (CH)
  • Credit Suisse Collection (CH)
  • Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson, Madrid (ES)
  • Fondation pour l’Art Contemporain Claudine et Jean-Marc Salomon, Annecy (FR)
  • Julius Baer Collection (CH)
  • Kunstmuseum Luzern (CH)
  • Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles (USA)
  • Mobiliar Art Collection (CH)
  • MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA)
  • Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (CH)
  • Musée Jenisch, Vevey (CH)
  • Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (CH)
  • Nationale Suisse Art Collection (CH)
  • Novartis Art Collection, Basel (CH)
  • The Maurice and Paul Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles (USA)
  • Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
  • UBS Art Collection (CH)


Awards & Residencies

2023

  • Fundación Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico City, Mexico

2019

  • TBA21–Academy Residency: Claudia Comte at Alligator Head Foundation, Port Antonio, Jamaica

2018

  • The Irène Reymond Foundation Prize, Switzerland
  • The Current, TBA21-Academy, expedition and residency, New Zealand
  • Kulturförderpreis 2018 der Alexander Clavel Stiftung, Riehen, Switzerland

2015

  • International Artists-In-Labs Residency – Russian-Swiss Exchange, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Division Ipae of Russian Academy of Sciences at Jekaterinburg, Russia
  • Prix de la Ville du Locle, Triennale de l’Art Imprime Contemporain, Switzerland
  • Sponsorship Award, Stiftung für die Graphische Kunst in der Schweiz, Switzerland

2014

  • Swiss Art Award, Switzerland

2013

  • Pro Helvetia Residency, Johannesburg, South Africa

2012

  • Kiefer Hablitzel Award, Switzerland
  • Mobiliar Award, Switzerland
  • Support from the UBS Foundation for Contemporary Art, Switzerland

2011

  • Support from the Canton Vaud, Switzerland
  • Support from the city of Lausanne, Switzerland

2010

  • Residency Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • Residency Vent des Forêts, Meuse, France

2009

  • Residency galerie Zwanzigquadrameter, Berlin, Germany

2008

  • Residency Cité des Arts, Paris, Laureate of l’atelier Vaudois du 700ème, France
  • Support from the Social and Cultural Association for the Swiss in Paris, France

References

  1. ^ "Claudia Comte - MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Archived from the original on 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  2. ^ "14 Emerging Women Artists to Watch in 2017". artnet News. 21 December 2016. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Musée des beaux-arts - Claudia Comte". Musée des beaux-arts. Archived from the original on 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  4. ^ "Claudia Comte – Big Bob, his square friend and their diamond totem - Credit Suisse". www.credit-suisse.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  5. ^ Cohen, Alina (19 February 2019). "These Women Artists are Transforming Gallery Walls with Incredible Murals". Artsy. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  6. ^ The Editors of ARTnews (16 January 2019). "Claudia Comte at Gladstone Gallery, New York". Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ "CLAUDIA COMTE – Art of Living in Natural Habitat With and Within Nature | Numéro Switzerland". Retrieved 2026-02-18.
  8. ^ "Claudia Comte – The sound of nature". basel.com. Retrieved 2026-02-18.
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