Biography

Claudia Comte (b. 1983, Grancy) is a Swiss artist based in Basel, Switzerland.

Working across site-specific installation, painting and sculpture, her practice is guided by a longstanding interest in teasing out the history and memory of biomorphic forms through traditional hand processes, industrial and machine technologies. At the heart of Comte’s installations are monumental wall paintings and serial sculptures inspired by organic patterns and morphology such as waves, sonar, cacti and rock strata, that are playfully recomposed within fluid and immersive environments.

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.

Comte studied at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL (2004-2007) followed by a Masters of Art in Science of Education at Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland (2008-2010). Her body of work is best known for her site-specific installations. The artist's practice is guided by a distinct rule-measurement system of her own creation, wherein each artwork specifically relates to one another. Comte's minimalist approach to art making is equal parts methodical and dynamic; works are infused with a distinct sense of playfulness. Her artistic output incorporates a diverse range of mediums from sculpture, to painting, to various multimedia installations.

Her work has been widely presented in solo and group exhibitions, including The Bright Side of the Desert Moon, Noor Riyadh (2023), Solo Summer Group Show III, Solo Houses, Matarraña (2023), Waves, Cacti and Sunsets, Globus Public Art Project in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2023), Marine Wildfire & Underwater Forests, Gladstone Gallery, Seoul (2023), The Liberation of Form. Barbara Hepworth - A Master of Abstraction in the Mirror of Modernism, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2023), Desert Flood, Lago/Algo, Mexico City (2023), From Where We Rise, Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico 2023, Through Dry Ocean Forests, Albarran Bourdais, Madrid (2022), An Impending Disaster (HAHAHA), König Galerie im KHK Wien (2022), Geometric Opulence, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2022), Desert X AlUla, Saudi Arabia (2022), Tree Line Curve, Rolex Learning Center, EPFL Lausanne (2021), The Dreamers, 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennale (2021), After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2021), Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin (2021), The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn (2020), How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli (2019), I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary (2019), Zigzags and Diagonals, MOCA Cleveland (2018), Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel (2018), KölnSkulptur #9, SkulpturenPark Köln (2017), NOW I WON, Messeplatz, Art Basel (2017), 10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum Luzern (2017), The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, New York (2016) and Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2014).

Passionate about using art as a tool for connecting marine conservation, policy change and climate education, she has collaborated with several organisations on projects, including a residency and underwater commission developed with TB21-Academy in 2019 to raise awareness of coral health around the Alligator Head Foundation in Jamaica. (Gabe Beckhurst, 2022)

 

 

 

This website, and the very nature of it, essentially reflects and embodies the systematic nature of Claudia Comte’s work. It is meant to function as an exhaustive archive of her production to date and demonstrate the playful and permutation-oriented thinking that motivates and is thoroughly embedded within what she does. Anyone interested in the secret of her practice will be able to access it here, for it is fully accessible, and it turns out, not much of a secret (which it just so happens, is its secret). Eschewing medium-specific taxonomies (sculpture, painting, drawing, etc), the site is composed of images, which are organized according to color, grading, as one scrolls down, from black-and-white to more complex color combinations. For those interested in a more traditional presentation, there is a filter section where you can browse according to mediums, techniques or areas of specific interest, or you can even assemble your own combinations of works. (Chris Sharp, 2017)

 

 

CV

Education

2008-2010

Master of Art in Science of Education, Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

2004-2007

BA Visual Arts, Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL, Lausanne, Switzerland

 

Collections

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)
 

 

 

 

Solo Exhibitions

2023

Globus Public Art Project in Collaboration with Fondation Beyeler, Marktplatz, Basel, Switzerland

Marine Wildfire & Underwater Forests, Gladstone Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

From Where We Rise, Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico

2022

Through Dry Ocean Forests, Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid, Spain

Five Marble Leaves, Central Wharf Park, Boston, USA

An Impending Disaster (hahaha), König Galerie im Kleines Haus der Kunst, Vienna, Austria

2021

Tree Line Curve, Rolex Learning Center, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland

The Interview Paintings Ensemble (mise en scène in 12 Acts), Art Basel Parcours, StadtCasino, Basel, Switzerland

After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen - Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain

Dreaming of Alligator Head, König Digital, König Galerie

Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2020

The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Austria

Corals and Jungle, CLAUDIA COMTE x KÖNIG GALERIE, Kunsttage Basel, Basel, Switzerland 

2019

How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy

Fruits and Jungle, König Galerie, London, UK

The Cavern of Lost Dreams (nine characters), Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

Bunnies and ZigZag, Galerie Joy de Rouvre, Geneva, Switzerland

I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Danmark

The Morphing Scallops, Gladstone Gallery, 24th St, New York, USA

2018

Fruits and Bodies, Villa Wenkenhof & Alexander Clavel Prize 2018, Switzerland

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Electric Burst (Lines and Zigzags), Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, USA

Zigzags and Diagonals, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, USA

2017

The Primary Fondue Party, Salon Suisse: ATARAXIA / Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

La Ligne Claire, curated by Samuel Leuenberger at Basement Roma, Rome, Italy

Black and White Circles in the Sky, solo exhibition curated by Christoph Doswald, Münsterhof, Zurich, Switzerland

NOW I WON, curated by Chus Martinez, Messeplatz, Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland

10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum, Luzern, Switzerland

Solo booth for ArtGeneve, with König Galerie, ArtGeneve 2017, Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland

2016

The Curves, the Corners and the Machines, Festival International d‘Art Toulouse at le Bazacle, Toulouse, France

Zigzag division, Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

Catch The Tail By The Tiger, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany

The Primary Fondue Party, performance organized with BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

2015

Sonic Geometry, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

Sonic Geometry, Galerie Art et Essaie, Rennes, France

Story Bumping, Milieu Galerie, Bern, Switzerland

No Melon No Lemon, Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA

2014

Le Passage de L’Etoile, with Guillaume Pilet, Vevey, Switzerland

Fluide Glacial, LISTE, with BolteLang, Basel,

Solo presentation Art Brussels, with Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

Easy Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland

Sharp Sharp, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, Ireland

2013

All Work and All Play, Toshiba House, Besançon, France   

Claudia Comte & Omar Ba, Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland

Wir baden auf der Freianlage, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

If I were a rabbit, where would I keep my gloves?, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

X, Y, Z, Friart, Centre d’Art de Fribourg, Switzerland

Summer Villa Extension, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France

2012

NO LEMON NO MELON, Tripode, Nantes, France

From Zanzibar to Acapulco, with Guillaume Pilet, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland

Trouble Rainbow III, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

Vanity Loop, Kunst am Bau, Yverdon Gymnasium, Canton Vaud, Switzerland

From Acapulco to Zanzibar, with Guillaume Pilet, La Rada, Locarno, Switzerland

2011

Scantione-Tensione, Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy

IBIZA, Milieu Gallery, with Vittorio Brodmann, Bern, Switzerland

Trouble Rainbow II, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, Favorite Goods, Los Angeles, USA

Trouble Rainbow, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch, Roma, Italy

Estampes, Studio Raynald Métraux, Lausanne, Switzerland

2010

Welcome to Colorful, Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland

2009

Rond Point, Darse Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

You cut but you can’t, with Mélodie Mousset, Galerie 20qmberlin, Berlin, Germany

Naturalisés, collaboration with Tatiana Rihs, Musée Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland

2008

Inimitable, Galerie Lucy Mackintosh, Lausanne, Switzerland

Georges abstraction surface air, Bureau des vidéos, Le George, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

Video projection, Rêves, Window of Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France

2007

L’Echo, standard deluxe, Lausanne, Switzerland

Awards & Residencies 

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

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


Group Exhibitions

2023

The Bright Side of the Desert Moon, Noor Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Solo Summer Group Show III at Solo Houses, Matarraña, Spain

The Liberation of Form. Barbara Hepworth - A Master of Abstraction in the Mirror of Modernism, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany

Desert Flood, LagoAlgo, Mexico City, Mexico

2022

Geometric Opulence, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland

Desert X AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia

Voices in the Evening, Vistamare, Milan, Italy

Abundant Futures, C3A Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain

Omnibus, Kinderhook & Caracas, Berlin, Germany

Hypermaremma, Pescia Fiorentina, IT

2021

The Dreamers, 58th October Salon - Belgrade Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia

Painting in Person. The new Collection of Fondazione CRC, Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco, Cuneo, Italy

One Decade of Female Sculptors, Kleines Haus der Kunst, Vienna, Austria

Stretch Marks, projects+gallery, St-Louis, Missouri, USA

Group Show 2021, Galerie Joy de Rouvre, Genève, Switzerland

Kunst & Nachhaltigkeit Vol 14: 25 Jahre Prix Mobilière, die Mobiliar, Bern, Switzerland

Solo Summer Group Show II, Solo Houses​, Galería Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid, Spain

The Dreamers, 58th October Salon - Belgrade Biennale, Serbia

Môtiers 2021 - Art en plein air, Môtiers, Switzerland

Ever Seen Never Seen, Akkurat Labs, Berlin, Germany

La sculpture suisse depuis 1945, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland

Nature of Robotics: An Expanded Field, EPFL ArtLab, Lausanne, Switzerland

Bunnies & Dogs, Ruttkowski;68 Gallery, Paris, France

2020

This Morning, in the Sweet Torpor of the great Forest, is Like Every Morning in the World, curated by Samuel Leuenberger & Claudia Comte, Country Salts, Bennwil, Switzerland

Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, 21st, New York, USA

The Sunrise Sings, TARMAK, Gstaad, Switzerland

Figures on Ground, Foundation CAB, Brussels, Belgium

Sculpture Zeitgeist?, Achenbach Hagemeier, Dusseldorf, Germany 

2019

Zone dangereuse, curated by Thomas Zitzwitz, Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery, Luxembourg

Delirious, Lustwarande, Tilburg, Netherlands

2018

Foundation for Contemporary Arts Benefit Exhibition, Gladstone Gallery, 21st St, New York City, USA

HOLZSCHNITT NOW! XYLON Deutschland und Schweiz mit Gästen, Kunstmuseum Reutlingen, Switzerland

"Exclusively Contemporary" on the occasion of 100 years of the Swiss Society of Engraving, Cabinet d’Estampes, Geneva, Switzerland

20 years Kunst Raum Riehen - The Jubilee Exhibition, Kunst Raum, Riehen, Switzerland

Biennale Gherdeina VI, Ortisei, Italy

100 Jahre Schweizerische Graphische Gesellschaft, Graphische Sammlung, Zurich

UNTITLED (MONOCHROME), 1957-2017, curated by Gregory Lang, Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York, USA

Hot Saw - Electric Power, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland

2017

Crib II, curated by Yves Scherer, Galerie 95, Biel, Switzerland

SkulptureKöln #9 "La Fin de Babylone. Mich wundert, dass ich so fröhlich bin!” curated by Chus Martinez, Sculpture Park Cologne, Germany

Beneath the Salt, presented by Conglomerate with Joe Clark and Lauryn Youden, Kinderhook and Caracas, Berlin, Germany

Curves and Zigzags, Desert X, Palm Springs, USA

2016

128 triangles and their demonstration, Installation for the Public sector at ArtBasel Miami Beach, USA

The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, City Hall Park Lower Manhattan, New York, USA

UM DIE ECKE DENKEN – DIE SAMMLUNG (1986-2016), Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland

Tous les tableaux sont à l’envers, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland

/Quiz 2, Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg

2015

Christmas show, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland

Des Seins à Dessein, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland

Ligne Aveugle, ISBA, Besançon, France

Full House, Bunk Club at Shanaynay, Paris, France

Architecture & Nature, curated by Simon Lamunière, Domaine de Muy, Contemporary Sculpture Park, France

My Lonely Days Are Gone Part 2, curated by Arturo Herrera, Arratia Beer, Berlin, Germany

Art Imprimé, Triennale 2015, Musee des Beaux-Arts Le Locle, Le Locle, Switzerland

"Pour que vous aimiez quelque chose il faut que vous l'ayez vu et entendu depuis longtemps tas d’idiots." Francis Picabia, Performance at Collection Cahiers d’Artistes 2015, LISTE, Basel, Switzerland

WLGTDWI - a performance evening with Claudia Comte, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland

Môtiers Art en plein air 2015, Môtiers, Switzerland

Gargle/Spit, curated by Kenny Schachter, TBD, New York, USA

Work Hard: Selections by Valentin Carron, Swiss Institute, New York, USA

Reliability of Recognition, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

2014

Elevation 1049, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gstaad, Switzerland

Post-Op. Perceptual Gone Painterly / Du perceptuel au pictural. 1958 – 2014, curated by Matthieu Poirier, Galerie Perrotin, Paris France

BolteLang Stadtbiotop 2014, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland

Bex & Arts, triennale de la sculpture Suisse, Bex, Switzerland

Ars Multiplicata, Kunsthalle Koidl, Berlin, Germany

2013

Post-Mortem, Forde, Geneva, Switzerland

Draft for a particular vision of the future, Bar Babette, Berlin, Germany

Châteaux Secrets, Fondation Ricard, Iles des Embiez

Mixed Message Media, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA

Harum Scarum, Galerie Blancpain, Geneva, Switzerland


Paraphernalia, Telemark Contemporary Art Center, Skien, Norway

2012

Under 30, Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland

La jeunesse est un art, Kunsthaus Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland

Tell The Children / Abstraction pour enfant, La Salle de Bain, Lyon, France

If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend 6 sharpening my ax, Kunst Raum, Riehen, Switzerland

2011

Territoires, Bex & Arts, Swiss Sculpture Triannual, Bex, Switzerland

Train Fantôme, Cruise and Callas Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Rock The Casbah, Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy

20 ans des espaces d’une sculpture, Visarte Vaud, Parc de Mont Repos, Lausanne, Switzerland

Le Fédéral à Semen-Contra, Rotwand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

Accrochage Vaud 2011, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

2010

Jeune Création 2010, Le CENTQUATRE, Paris, France

Minipic, Pauline’s, New York, USA

10 ans du MUDAC, collaboration with Tatiana Rihs, Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland

2009

I could do that! No, you could’t!, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland

Kawabanga, Espace Delrue, La Barthoteque, Nantes, France

Condominia, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland

I am by birth a Genevese, Espace Forde, Geneva, Switzerland

I am by birth a Genevese, Vegas Gallery, London, UK

Transit, collective urban exhibition, Renens, Switzerland

2008

Patapsychique, Library of the Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France

Le Spectrarium, Le Corbusier Pavillion, Cité universitaire, Paris, France

Made by ECAL, Espace lausannois d’art contemporain, Renens, Switzerland

Abstraction-Extension, Fondation Salomon, Alex, France

That’s all Folks!, Chez Popper, Geneva, Switzerland

X, proposed by N. Wagnières, galerie 1m3, Lausanne, Switzerland

Black Diaspora, exposition collective, Galerie Out of this World, Montreux, Switzerland

2007

Weihnachtsmarkt, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland

Athéne, Claudia, Orlane, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland

2006

Cabinet Budget, collective exhibition, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland

Sonal, collective exhibition of sound installations, Arsenic, Lausanne, Switzerland

Sublime, collective exhibition, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland

Morgenstern, collective exhibition, Château de Morges, Morges, Switzerland

Mini-golf, collective exhibition, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland

2005

Accrochage, Vaud 2005, collective exhibition, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

Académie de sculpture, proposition by Pierre Vadi, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland

Les Urbaines, young videographers at the Cinemathèque Suisse, « Rêves », Lausanne, Switzerland