B. 1996, Geneva, Switzerland.
Currently lives and works in Geneva.
Currently lives and works in Geneva.
Email: studio@valentinrilliet.com
Instagram: @valentinrilliet
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.
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