Christel D. PETRAUD
Artist’s Statement
My work explores areas of passage and transition where perception wavers between presence and absence, visible and invisible. Through my series Shadows Colours, Blur and Matrix, I question these intermediate spaces, these suspended moments that defy clear classification. I use colour, light and superimposition to create works that invite viewers to experience this fragile threshold where identities and realities are transformed. My canvases are bridges between states in the making, revealing the beauty of the moments of uncertainty and ambiguity that define our relationship with the world.
Biography
Christel DELRIEU Petraud is a French artist whose work embodies a profound quest for perception and reality, boldly exploring the intermediate zones and invisible thresholds that shape our view of the world. Through her paintings, she invites the viewer to experience a reality that is no longer fixed, but in perpetual transformation, between the visible and the invisible, the tangible and the immaterial.
At the heart of her approach lies the notion of **liminality**, that state of in-between, that fragile passage between different realities or identities. Her major series — *Shadows Colors*, *Blur* and *Matrix*—embody this idea of constant transition: vibrant portraits where colour and light become veils playing on visibility and invisibility, blurred lines that capture the fragility and temporality of human existence, and a graphic matrix inspired by quantum physics that reveals the invisible connections of the universe.
Christel blends classical techniques with an innovative contemporary vision, combining scientific rigour with aesthetic abandon. Her work deconstructs the infinitely small and the infinitely large to reveal parallel, unsuspected universes accessible through art. Through this approach, she opens up a liminal space, at once intellectual, aesthetic and sensory, where the boundaries between the figurative and the abstract, the normal and the strange, become blurred.
This exploration of perceptual thresholds allows Christel DELRIEU Petraud to question human nature, memory, and the construction of time, while inviting poetic reflection on the complexity of our relationship with the world. Each work is an invitation to enter these spaces where the impossible becomes visible, where reality is filtered, transformed, and revealed in its multiple layers.
Two recent exhibitions perfectly illustrate her approach: *Traversal Reality*, presented at the end of 2024 in Leyden, the Netherlands, an exhibition that highlighted transitional states and multiple realities in contemporary art, showcasing Christel's ability to navigate between different planes of perception. In 2025, the solo exhibition *100 Filters*, at the Chapelle-Observance Museum in France, offered an immersion into the heart of her research on visual fragmentation and ambiguity, further reinforcing the liminal dimension of her work.
Thus, Christel's work is profoundly liminal, a journey between suspended states that question the way we see, feel and understand, and celebrate the beauty and vulnerability inherent in our human condition.Influences
- Francis Bacon: For his way of transcending classical portraiture, shifting it towards abstraction and raw emotion, emphasizing sensation over faithful representation. Notably in the “Blur” series by Christel D. Petraud
- Gerhard Richter: For the blurred boundary between abstraction and figuration in his portraits, the use of large formats, and the dissociation of the face in favor of a multiple and sensory reading of the work.
- Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely, Kandinsky: For the rhythm, vibratory effect, and optical experience, where repetition and color variations energize the surface and immerse the observer in a perception of movement.
- Sonia Delaunay and the Orphism movement: For their exploration of pure colors, pictorial rhythm, and the role of color vibration, creating works that are both abstract and evocative.
- David Hockney (colorful portrait period): For synthesizing the portrait motif with chromatic intensity and simplified forms, creating a sensation that is both familiar and unsettling.
Overall, Christel Delrieu Pétraud combines a pop and graphic spirit with a reflection on science, perception, and message, making her universe colorful, conceptual, and engaged in a poetic quest for vision and reality.Awards
Prize : Médaille d’or du Foro Europa for Art, Madrid, Espagne, novembre 2016
Museum collection : Palestine MUSEUM USA, Connecticut, USA, since april 2018Exhibitions
Events 2025
BIENNALE BRABANT | THE NETHERLANDS
From December 5 to 14, 2025
Address : De Koepelhal, Burgemeester Brokxlaan 2, 5041 SB Tilburg
SALON DES ARTS | THE NETHERLANDS
26 septembre au 5 octobre with Van Loon Galleries
Address : Hotel de Leijhof, Oisterwijk
GALERIE MARCIANO | FRANCE
Address : 4 Avenue Marie-Louise | Passage du Royal 44500 La Baule, France
MUSEE CHAPELLE OBSERVANCE | FRANCE
« 100 FILTRES » Exposition personnelle Du 7 février au 24 mai 2025
Address : 2-86 Mont du Rigoulier, 83300 Draguignan, France
VAN LOON Galleries | THE NETHERLANDS
Address: Heuvel 4, Vught
KUNSTHUIZEN Gallery | THE NETHERLANDS
Address: Leiden – Amsterdam – Breda
VENTE AUX ENCHERES | FRANCE
MAI 2025 Salle de l’Industrie, PARIS
Events 2024
KUNSTHUIZEN Gallery | THE NETHERLANDS
SOLO SHOW From September 21 to october 13, 2024
Address : Nieuwstraat 33, 2312 KA Leiden,
Pays-Bas
BIENNALE EINDHOVEN | THE NETHERLANDS
From March 15 to 24, 2024
Address : Domusdela, Kanaalstraat 4, 5611 CT Eindhoven
VAN LOON Galleries | THE NETHERLANDS
Permanent exhibition
Address : Heuvel 4, Vught
ADIKT GALERIE | FRANCE
Permanent exhibition
Address : Résidence de l’Hermitage, Pl. de l’Hermitage, 62520 Le Touquet-Paris-Plage
KUNSTHUIZEN Gallery | THE NETHERLANDS
Leiden – Amsterdam – Breda
IXIART Gallery | FRANCE
Permanent exhibition
Address : Port St Sauveur, Toulouse
Galerie ANNOTIAU | FRANCE
Permanent exhibition
Address : Place du Bourg, Rodez
Events 2023
BIENNALE BRABANT | THE NETHERLANDS
From November 17 to 26, 2023
Address : De Koepelhal, Burgemeester Brokxlaan 2, 5041 SB Tilburg
VAN LOON Galleries | THE NETHERLANDS
Heuvel 4, Vught
KUNSTHUIZEN Gallery | THE NETHERLANDS
Leiden – Amsterdam – Breda
Gallery GOT | FLORIDA, USA
ART MIAMI, WINWOOD, PALM BEACH
Galerie Ariel JAKOB | FRANCE
28 place des Vosges, Paris
MARCH & JULY *** SOLO EXHIBITION
IXIART Gallery | FRANCE
Port St Sauveur, Toulouse
Galerie ANNOTIAU | FRANCE
Place du Bourg, Rodez
Events 2022
Galerie Ariel Jacob | FRANCE
28 place des Vosges, Paris
IXIART Gallery | FRANCE
Port St Sauveur, Toulouse
KUNSTHUIZEN Gallery | THE NETHERLANDS
Leiden – Amsterdam – Breda
Gallery GOT | FLORIDA, USA
ART MIAMI, WINWOOD, PALM BEACH
Events 2021
ARIEL JAKOB Gallery | FRANCE
28 place des Vosges, Paris
FREDERIC GOT Gallery | FRANCE
Rue grande, Saint Paul de Vence
IXIART Gallery | FRANCE
Port St Sauveur, Toulouse
KUNSTHUIZEN Gallery | THE NETHERLANDS
Leiden – Amsterdam – Breda, THE NETHERLANDS
ART FAIRS | USA
ART MIAMI 2021, ART CONTEXT Miami, FLORIDA
Events 2020
Paris Art Fair 2020: Art3F 01/2020, France
Toulouse Art Fair 2020: Art3F 03/2020, France
Artist Day : Galerie Annotiau 07/2020, Rodez, France
Monaco Art Fair 2020: Art3F 06/2020
Nuit d’art invité: 09/2020 Toulouse, France
Nantes Art Fair 2020: Art3F 11/2020, France
Events 2019
Excellence Art Gallery, Marbella, Espagne
Galerie Nicolet, Avignon, France
Galerie Annotiau, Rodez, France
Galerie de l’Estuaire, Honfleur, France
Events 2018
Galerie Agama, Toulouse, France
Palestine Museum US, Woodbridge, USA
Gallery Santana Art, Madrid, Espagne
Exposition collective avec Cobalt collectif, Toulouse, France
Events 2017
Musée international d’art, Turin, Italie
Art Fair Malaga, Malaga, Espagne
Invité d’honneur aux peintres et créateurs, Grisolles, France
L’Atelier 58, Avignon, France
Art3f Art Fair, Toulouse, France
Galerie Crisolart, Barcelone, Espagne
TORO arte contemporanea, Sessa Aurunca, Italie
Excellence Art Gallery, Marbella, Espagne
La Matrice: Galerie Annotiau, Rodez, France
Autre Noir: Galerie Annotiau, Rodez, France 31e
Foire d’art plastique de La Rochelle, France
Events 2016
Artoulouse, Toulouse, France
Galerie Annotiau, Rodez, France
Des artistes se mobilisent autour du vin, Rodez, France
Honneur à la foire d’art St-Jory, Saint-Jory, France
L’Atelier 58, Avignon, France
Festi’arts, Azur, France
Art3f International, Bruxelles, Belgique
Art3f Toulouse, Toulouse, France
Events 2015
Galerie de l’Artelier, Tarbes, France
Galerie Artiempo, Toulouse, FranceWebsite
Showing 1–10 of 67 artworks
