Raphaël Zarka

1977, Montpellier, France. Lives and works in Paris, France.

Raphaël Zarka's artistic research starts from theoretical experimentalism, which crosses various media, including painting, sculpture, photography and video. His main interest lies in the sculptural potential of structures, their volumes and geometries, influenced by architecture and urbanity. The artist frequently collaborates with local communities to create his projects, which explore the history and materiality of the objects and spaces involved. Skateboarding, in particular, represents an important element in his investigation, not only for the culture that surrounds that practice, but also for the dynamics of the surfaces used, such as ramps. Also, it is worth mentioning that the point of convergence of his work is a change in the meaning of the forms according to the space and time in which they are inserted.

Raphaël Zarka graduated in Arts from the Winchester School of Art, in England, and from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. Among the solo exhibitions, there are the ones at Center Georges Pompidou (2024, Paris, France), Center régional d’art contemporain, (2020, Le Havre, France), Koffler Center of the Arts (2019, Toronto, Canada), National Museum of Contemporary Art (2019, Romênia), Musée d’Art Modern (2016, Toulouse, France), Le Corbusier – Villa Savoye (2013, French), etc. His main participations in group exhibitions are: Biennale d'art contemporain d'Enghien (2022, Belgium), Center Regional d’Art Contemporain (2021, Montbéliard, France), Museé d’Art Contemporain (2019, Bordeaux, France), Museo Nazionale delle arti del XXI Secolo (2018, Rome, Italy), Center Georges Pompidou (2016, Paris, France), Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR (2014, Brazil), Palais de Tokyo (2012, Paris, France), Museum of Contemporary Art (2010, Detroit, USA), etc. His works feature among various public and private collections, such as Center George Pompidou (France), Fonds National d'Art Contemporain (France), Museé d'Art Moderne de Paris (France), among others.