YANIS KHANNOUSSI

The exhibition begins with its title, Gradient Dystopia, which establishes the conceptual foundation: the assertion that infinity remains perpetually unattainable. The gradient, as a formal emblem of endless transition, exists solely within the realm of the imaginary.

Through the passage of time, humanity bears witness to an absolute truth—the law of inconstancy—which inexorably causes beings and objects to vanish from the tangible world we inhabit.

A desire then arises in response to this experience of “the end”: how can we represent what no longer exists—the void, the absence, the lack? This is the result of an empiricism of time and its implacable truth.

Gradient Dystopia serves as a tribute to the artist’s father, who has departed to an unknown elsewhere. Forever.

This elsewhere is a place where time no longer exists, and thus, the utopia of a metaphysical world where the perfect once again becomes possible by its very essence. And nothing is more perfect than the representation of the absolute sphere, an object so often fantasized by humans but never intrinsically realized.

Thus, this work, The Missing Star - to my father, encapsulates all the richness of humanity’s desire to transcend its finitude. Through its sphere—its missing star in the center—this piece shows us that, despite the absence and the departure, the void remains deeply tangible and admirable in every way and at every moment. For all we are talking about here is the representation of a vanished presence, a volume revealed through its negative.

And yet, gazing at this lost star from our mortal vantage point, our perspective does not reveal a sphere but rather its imprint, transformed into an ellipse. This is merely a deviation of that form, made tangible by our world and our experience.

It is therefore through the ellipse that everything becomes comprehensible to the eyes of the physical world. It represents the starting form for some of the works presented around the missing star. Whether it is presented literally, or alienated by twisting, or cut at its centre, it allows us to bridge the gap between a finite world and a metaphysical one, where the laws of our time no longer apply. Where everything becomes possible again.

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Yanis Khannoussi’s practice is a vibrant synthesis of color, form, material, and space, driven by his keen interest in the techniques and materials of industrial iconography. Using molded resin supports to detach paintings from walls, the artist transforms color into an active subject that explores the interplay between form and anti-form, while his reflective surface treatments engage with the environment and create altered perceptions of reality. By employing pneumatic spray guns and other impersonal techniques, Khannoussi neutralizes personal gestures and their cultural baggage to foster pure, contemplative experiences of color and form that open onto an infinite, metaphysical realm.

Yanis Khannoussi (b. 1996, Paris) earned his master’s degree (DNSAP) from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2021. Based in Paris, he has served as an instructor in the composite materials workshop at Beaux-Arts since 2018 and works in an industrial-like studio where he develops his unique approach. He has held acclaimed solo exhibitions in Paris and Shanghai, received the New Talent Award from L’Officiel des Galeries & Musées at the Réalités Nouvelles Salon (2022), and was shortlisted for emerging artist awards including the Prix Sisley (2023) and Prix Panthéon-Sorbonne (2022).