Richard Nonas

Galerie Christophe Gaillard is pleased to present in its Paris space the second solo exhibition of Richard Nonas (1936–2021), whom it has represented since 2019.

"Sober, serial, and meticulously arranged within the exhibition space, the work of Richard Nonas, composed of raw materials and elementary forms, appears to follow in the lineage of Minimalism. One notices immediately that River-Run (2016) runs across the gallery floor in the manner of Carl Andre's manufactured pieces, stripping sculpture of its pedestal the better to return it to the laws of gravity. This sculpture can also be read as an expandable combination of modules, in the manner of the process established by Donald Judd, all the more so in that the dimensions of River-Run adapt to its exhibition context — here, twelve granite edging pieces distributed across two spaces. The piece from the Curl Drawing series (2016), for its part, appears to draw inspiration from Richard Serra's curved compositions, wrenching the sheet of paper away from flatness and working it into volume, effacing any distinction between drawing and sculpture."

Extract from La sculpture en son lieu (Sculpture in Its Place), by François Salmeron, 2026

Richard Nonas uses sculpture to think about both the space itself and what shapes our physical and mental perception of it. He wants to create places (he challenges the term “installation”) that have the power to question and move us, to transform our view of all the places we live and move around in. The elements that make up his minimalist arrangements – the wooden beams, blocks of granite or steel arranged according to simple and repetitive designs – mark the territory in which they are situated, punctuating the space, interrupting and refreshing it.