cross-generational
September 18 to October 31
Opening September 18 from 6 to 9 pm
Three artists — Three conceptual approaches — Three sculptural results
The exhibition Cross-Generational explores the sculptural practices of Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Philip Ortelli, and Valentin Carron, each reflecting a personal yet universally resonant approach to form, material, and meaning. Across different stages of their careers, the artists engage with the everyday, the intimate, and the absurd—infusing objects with symbolic weight, social commentary, and emotional honesty.
Time becomes a quiet backdrop, allowing contrasts and connections between the artists to emerge: Chabot’s emotionally charged wall pieces shimmer with rhinestone surfaces and pixelated longing; Ortelli transforms lamps and water cans into poetic reflections on comfort, value, and liquidity; Carron draws from his Valaisan origins with a resin cross that mimics Christian symbolism yet resists its meaning—an ambiguous object of cultural memory rather than faith. Alongside it, his quietly grotesque figures carry fragile yet dignified burdens: triangles, spoons, or just the weight of being.
What binds these works is not a shared aesthetic, but a shared commitment to starting from scratch—approaching sculpture not as monument, but as medium for honesty. Everyday objects become vessels for complex ideas. Life circumstances inform the tone and texture of each piece. And while the artists differ in age, method, and tone, the exhibition resists comparison in favor of coexistence—allowing distinct voices to resonate side by side, in dialogue rather than competition.
Through their differences, the artists trace a deeply human, cross-generational conversation—rooted in the personal, resonating with the universal.
Markus Rischgasser