Born in Normandy, Maxime Testu is a French artist based between Paris and Normandy. In my opinion, the distinctive feature of Maxime Testu’s work is its great mobility, its perpetual movement and the intersection of genres and artistic currents that the artist likes to mix and match in a work that is each time unique. His creative process is particularly physical, involving the whole body, in the image of the American action painting of the 50s, where paint placed on the floor is moved around and drenched in various coloured baths.
These canvases, with their infinite shades of light and colour, or these “colour filed” canvases, are transformed in a final gesture into immense still lifes or small landscapes through the use of a vocabulary of restricted, archetypal forms. Shaking up the hierarchy of genres, but also of artistic categories, notably through the creation and integration of unique frames, the artist blurs the codes between the so-called plastic and decorative arts.
In this interview, the artist talks about his artistic career, and the decisive moments and encounters in his artistic development, notably with tutelary intellectual figures such as Baudelaire and Guston. The artist describes his plastic research and the way in which he approaches his artistic work, which shows that his work continues and is prolonged, where his painting mixes or feeds off different techniques.
Maxime Testu, La pomme, 2025, pigments, charcoal, inks, wood, 40 x 40 cm
Exhibitions with the gallery:
Upcoming / October, 2025, group exhibition
Upcoming / February, 2026, personal exhibition
Upcoming / February, 2026, personal exhibition
Biography
Maxime Testu (born in 1990 in Rouen) lives and works between Paris and Rouen.
Education
Diplôme Workmaster, HEAD, Geneva (CH), 2016
DNSEP Art, ENSBA Lyon, France (FR), 2014
DNAP Art, ESAD Reims, France (FR), 2012
Diplôme Workmaster, HEAD, Geneva (CH), 2016
DNSEP Art, ENSBA Lyon, France (FR), 2014
DNAP Art, ESAD Reims, France (FR), 2012
Exhibitions (selection)
Maxime Testu's work has been included in group exhibitions at: Chateau La Coste, Aix en Provence, France (2025) ; Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2025); Frac Hauts de France, Dunkerque, France (2021). Testu's recent solo exhibition include "Une Pastorale" Poush, Paris (2024).
Maxime Testu's work has been included in group exhibitions at: Chateau La Coste, Aix en Provence, France (2025) ; Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2025); Frac Hauts de France, Dunkerque, France (2021). Testu's recent solo exhibition include "Une Pastorale" Poush, Paris (2024).
Works (selection)
Maxime Testu, sans titre 14, watercolour on paper, 10x15 cm
Maxime Testu, Les chevaux rouges, 2025, pigments, charcoal, inks, wood, 30 x 50 cm
