For his first institutional solo exhibition in Switzerland, Chris Lovasoa Kauffmann explores the hierarchies of artistic knowledge, and more specifically the relationship between academically sanctioned discourse, often canonized, and vernacular aesthetics, frequently dismissed. Before studying painting at art school, Kauffmann first gained visibility online through DIY videos he shared, notably on YouTube. Oscillating between a desire for anonymity and self-exposure, this early practice deeply informed his approach to painting, allowing him to question what shapes the canon but also what defines (good) taste.
At the heart of Mammoth steps. One for Kevin, two for Lisa unfolds a new multi-channel video, conceived to inhabit the physical space and enter into dialogue with two groups of paintings as well as several mixed-media installations. An escape room inspired by Pompeii serves as the backdrop for this claustrophobic narrative, in which the artist seeks to document a present condemned to near-instant obsolescence. Within a universe at once dreamlike and trashy—evoking Pink Flamingos by John Waters as much as Temple Time by Ryan Trecartin—Kauffmann’s charactersoperate through precise codes: performative endurance, heightened logorrhea, self-referential gestures and attitudes.
Through this highly coded and stereotyped environment, the artist interrogates systems of classification by examining digital media, once embraced as spaces of expression for micro-communities but now increasingly shaped by algorithms that foster exclusion, homogenize taste, and impose implicit hierarchies.
The work of Chris Lovasoa Kauffmann (b. 1999, Geneva, where he lives and works) subverts the codes of contemporary painting by collaging onto his canvases self-portraits, digital montages, and screenshots from his early amateur YouTube videos. His painting functions as a backdrop for these modest images, humorously overturning material hierarchies in art and advancing an approach rooted in image curation and the aesthetics of the moodboard rather than the pursuit of a singular identity.
He earned a BA in Visual Arts from HEAD – Geneva in 2022 and an MA in Visual Arts from ENSBA Paris in 2024. His work has been exhibited at the MAMCO, the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, the Kunsthalle Winterthur, and Cherish, Geneva.
