Jean Gfeller

A graduate of the Beaux-Arts in Nantes (France), the painter Jean Gfeller (born in Switzerland in 1996) takes a critical look at our contemporary societies and their relationship to the world of work, driven by the cult of the reus-site. The artist uses different types of characters, from the oppressor, in costume, to the oppressed, often depicted partially clothed or in a submissive position, via his alter egos, thus highlighting his own fragility. Placed in enclosed spaces, a kind of liminal space, his figures find themselves condemned to inextricable situations.

While up until now his discourse has focused on the notion of liminal space, Jean Gfeller now speaks more of mental space. In his creative process, the artist starts from reference images from which he distances himself in order to allow an inner landscape to emerge and be transposed onto the canvas. It is only later that the characters appear, like puppets he has directed, placed in a dead-end environment. Playing as much with them as with the viewer when he depicts what appear to be exit doors but are in fact only decoys - in fact posters - Jean Gfeller takes us into a maze of interconnected bunkers, trapping us in an inner labyrinth with no way out.

Currently in residence at the Casa de Velázquez, Académie de France in Madrid until July 2025, Jean Gfeller is working on two series of works. The first focuses on the notion of the waiting room, and more specifically on the waiting rooms of practitioners of alternative medicine. Through the development of this new type of character, he is seeking to explore the ambivalence and even paradoxical behaviour of individuals in our contemporary societies. The second examines the notion of identity and the possibility of emancipation from family influence. Inspired by a documentary made by a young filmmaker co-resident at Casa de Velázquez, this body of three works once again marks the artist's interest in oppressive social situations.

In 2022, we dedicated his first solo gallery exhibition to him with the support of Cnap (Centre national des arts plastiques). Jean Gfeller was recently in residence in La Rochelle as part of the encore! endowment fund programme. He benefited from a residency at the Casa de Velázquez for 2024 / 2025, and his work has recently entered private collections in France and Switzerland, as well as the Arts aux murs collection (Artothèque de Pessac). In January 2026, we presented his work on focus on our booth at Art Genève (Switzerland).

Jean Gfeller is currently in a residency at Iota Agency studios (Paris, France). A solo exhibition dedicated to his work will take place at the gallery from October 15th to November 21st, 2026.