Welcome to reality - Seny Solo Show

Opening | Thursday, 03 April, 6pm - 10pm, 2025
Exhibition | 03 April - 10 April, 2025
Address | 23 place des Vosges, 75003 Paris, France 

Just over two years ago, Seny made his debut on our walls during his first solo exhibition at the gallery. At the time, he presented a series of portraits on metal panels. The enthusiasm they sparked surpassed all our expectations—though our confidence in this young artist, barely of legal age, was absolute.

To paraphrase Corneille: talent does not wait for age!

This rising talent from Vitry-sur-Seine did not take the easy path for his debut on the grand stage. He tackled a delicate challenge: portraiture. Engaging with this genre often limits one’s chances of appealing to a broad audience, as the focus narrows entirely to the subject—especially, and perhaps paradoxically, when the portrait is commissioned!

But Seny skillfully sidestepped these pitfalls. He deconstructed the conventions of the genre, breaking free from archetypes to offer a sensitive and bold interpretation of portraiture. Take, for example, his young boxer Ali: not a warrior-like expression seeking to provoke our gaze, but rather a suspended, contemplative, and elusive glance.

With Welcome to Reality, you will discover a new cycle of paintings, still on metal. The perspective widens, expanding the view; the urban landscape emerges and enters the pictorial space. As Seny confides, he now reveals himself, inviting us into his own story—after several exhibitions dedicated to others, which invited viewers to see the world through his gaze.

Once again, he defies expectations, placing himself where we least anticipate, giving his work a unique progression: intimacy is revealed by zooming out, not the other way around. Indeed, in these paintings, the everyday—genre scenes and their environments—are neither distanced nor viewed from an external perspective. Instead, they are fully embodied. Humanity, within this broader space, is not reduced to a decorative element but becomes its central focus.

A flow of vital energy runs through them, an invitation to board the train. Nothing is static; the story unfolds, weaving itself together with us!