CAROLINE DENERVAUD

The exhibition is inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem Burnt Norton, from which Denervaud selected ten evocative phrases—such as “neither flesh nor fleshness”, “a white light still and moving”, and “there is only the dance”. These became titles and emotional starting points for a series of nine movement-based paintings, or what the artist calls “Traces.”

Each work begins with a filmed performance: Denervaud dances across an unstretched canvas laid on the floor, using charcoal or paint to record the body’s intuitive motion. These physical acts are captured on Super 8 film and later transformed into paintings layered with casein and powdered pigments. The result is a vibrant interplay of colour, form, and movement, a visual rhythm that speaks to presence, memory, and sensation.

Still Moving features ten large-scale paintings alongside original traces, still images, and a video installation of the performance process. Visitors are invited not only to view the finished works, but also to step inside the artist’s creative world, where choreography and abstraction come together as one.

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Caroline Denervaud (b. 1978, Lausanne, Switzerland) is an artist based in Paris. She studied contemporary dance at the Laban Centre in London and later pursued visual arts and fashion in Paris. Drawing from her training as a dancer, Denervaud creates performative works in which the movement of her body is recorded directly onto the canvas, later layered with casein paint to transform physical traces into visual compositions.

Her practice originates from emotion, instinct, music, and bodily energy, exploring a delicate tension between balance and imbalance, structure and improvisation. Each gesture becomes an improvised composition, a playful dialogue between the body, space, and time.

Working across painting, drawing, performance, and video, Denervaud constructs organic forms that go beyond abstraction, encapsulating memory and sensation. Her work has been exhibited internationally at DoubleV Gallery (Paris, Marseille), Simard Bilodeau (Los Angeles), and Marlborough (London), and she has collaborated with brands such as Chloé, Roksanda, and The Nomad Hotel in London, bridging the worlds of contemporary art, fashion, and design.