Valentin
Rilliet




B. 1996, Geneva, Switzerland.
Currently lives and works in Geneva.

Email: studio@valentinrilliet.com
Instagram: @valentinrilliet




Valentin Rilliet is a Swiss-Chinese visual artist working primarily in oil painting and ink drawing. His practice engages with intercultural narratives and reinterprets mythology, folklore, symbolism, and historical material through a personal lens.

Exploring themes of cultural identity and inherited memory, his work blends fiction and archival material to create layered, often ambiguous scenes. Figures and motifs appear anachronistic or displaced, drawn from a wide range of visual languages across art history.

Using magical realism as a method, Rilliet challenges established narratives and reflects on how authenticity and bias shape our understanding of the past. His compositions evoke historical echoes while deliberately obscuring their origins, inviting viewers to navigate between what seems familiar and what resists classification.





Selected Exhibitions

2025    (Upcoming) Title TBD, Duo exhibition in Shanghai
2025    The Dream Synopsis, Solo exhibition at Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Paris

2024    蜀風 – Mountain Stories, Solo exhibition at Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zürich
2024    Soft Phantoms, Organhaus Art Space, Chongqing
2024    Buzz~ Buzz~ Buzz~, LINSEED Projects, Shanghai
2024    Newkammer: A Showcase of New Talent, Atelier Righini Fries, Zürich
2024    Above All Love, Espace TOPIC —curated by Extra Collective—, Geneva
2024    Artgenève fair with Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Geneva

2023   Grosse Regionale 2023, ALTEFABRIK & Kunst(Zeug)Haus, Rapperswil
2023   Alina Kopytsia, Sarah Margnetti, Valentin Rilliet (three new positions), Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zürich
2023   Breathing Spaces, Bahay Contemporary, Geneva
2023   A Fear of Mist, Solo exhibition at Modern Animals Gallery, Zürich 
2023   ZHdK 2023 MFA Fine Arts Diploma Show, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zürich
2023   Kunst im Nomad, Nomad Hotel, Basel

2022   In the other room, Sonnenstube Offspace, Lugano

2021    Austellung Josef Lada, CzechIN, Zürich
2021    Shifting Sands, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Zürich
2021    Slade Summer Show, Slade School of Fine Art, London
2021    KingDom – curated by Mala Yamey – ArtHub Studios, Deptford, London
2021    Bigger Pleasures, All Mouth Gallery, online auction 

2020   Visionaries – Curated by Jonah Fried – A Space for Art, London
2020   Solo representation, Zetter Hotel, Clerkenwell, London
2020   Slade Degree Showcase, online group showcase

2019    Spaceship Dungeon Zoo, Hackney, London
2019    Slade Students Exhibition, Russell and Chapple, London.
2019    18/11/1 – Curated by Kristy M Chan – PMQ, Hong Kong

2018    Bridge, Izo Art Gallery, Moscow



Education

2021-23    MFA Fine Arts, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, CH
2017-20    BFA Fine Arts, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, UK



Awards & Residencies

2024   Swatch Art Peace Hotel Residency, Shanghai, China
2024   Pro Helvetia Shanghai Residency, China

2023   Yvonne Lang-Chardonnens Stiftung – Excellenz Stipendium, Zürich CH
2022   Hintermeister-Stiftung scholarship, Zürich CH
2020   Max Werner Drawing prize – nominated, London UK
2019   UCL Global experience bursary, London UK

2023-24   What’s_Next Studio Residency, Zürich CH


Sunday Feb 20 2022