GUEST OF HONOR | MATHIAS KISS

For the 2025 edition, Moderne Art Fair is pleased to welcome Mathias Kiss as guest of honor. A singular and unclassifiable artist, he has been developing for over twenty years a body of work at the crossroads of architecture and contemporary art, where classical heritage confronts radical experimentation.

Mathias Kiss disrupts the codes of classical heritage. His work breaks down the boundaries between art and craftsmanship, following in the footsteps of artistic movements such as the Arts & Crafts movement or the Bauhaus school.
He mastered the academic vocabulary within the Compagnons, thanks to decorative painting techniques applied to the restoration of historic monuments (gold leaf techniques, trompe-l’œil effects using mirrors, marble, or painted skies).

At the end of his apprenticeship, the artist freed himself from the dogmas imposed by his guild, drawing on references that stand in stark contrast to his original culture. He appropriates decorative codes in order to subvert them. His works, often monumental, question the very notion of space and perception: from brutalism to minimalism, including land art, but also pop culture and digital culture (Pixelated Skies). Decorative elements are diverted from their status or function to become sculptures (Crumpled Mirrors), canvases (Skies), or above all in situ installations that reveal the spirit of the places they inhabit (Kiss Room, Golden Snake, etc.).

Following in the footsteps of decorator-ensembliers, his installations possess a powerful sense of staging, close to “total art,” and regularly involve his artistic circle. Mathias Kiss is based in Paris in his “Atelier-Maison,” a hybrid, ever-evolving space between studio and artist’s home, recently featured by The New York Times.

Mathias Kiss has exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the mudac in Lausanne, as well as at the Mobilier National and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille.
His sculptural work, fueled by intimate rebellion and childhood wounds, seeks to liberate imposed frameworks—familial, educational, or social—by crumpling, fragmenting, or trampling them. Balancing academic references and popular culture, he asserts a freedom of gesture, vision, and interpretation, inviting us to rediscover a heritage freed from its technical and aesthetic codes.

At Moderne Art Fair, his intervention affirms the fair’s desire to highlight artists who, through their approach, disrupt conventions and reinvent the relationship between tradition and modernity. The presence of Mathias Kiss consecrates a visionary body of work, rooted in the history of forms and resolutely turned toward the future.

The works, drawings, and sculptures can be viewed at the studio by appointment outside of exhibition periods.

Mathias Kiss
For any inquiries: contact@mathiaskiis.com