Xavier Vanlaere
Abstract painting, mixed media — accumulation, matter, memory
Information
Based in
Six-Fours-les-Plages, France
Status
Avanvue Selection
Medium
Painting · Collage · Mixed media
Overview
Xavier Vanlaere constructs his artworks the way one accumulates memories: in layers, by chance, through subtraction. His abstract practice began during the 2021 lockdown, in isolation and silence, using only the materials available in his home: paint cans, lime, sand, and planks. It was then that something became clear.
Painting, projecting, superimposing, covering, incising. Simple gestures that engage a direct relationship with matter. Non-figurative, unpremeditated forms, simply welcomed in their emergence. The work as a space of withdrawal. An active, almost silent meditation.
Blue is his constant color: the blue of the sea, the blue of memory, the blue of the North. In his gestural pieces, we find echoes of the coast where he grew up. In his collages, fragments of newspaper, maps, sheet music, and printed texts—anything that carries a hidden story within it—become emotional material. The work carries its own archaeology.
My view
Presented by Avanvue, May 2026.
A crystal-clear blue that draws you in with its light and holds your attention with what it conceals beneath: fragments, maps, sheet music, a memory that surfaces. A work that remembers, without getting lost in it.
Explore the Collection
Prices are visible to all. Three memberships, each with its own advantage.
Discover memberships by becoming an Avanvue collector
From free discovery to privileged access. Each level corresponds to a
different engagement with the artists and the works.
The Letter
Every two weeks, I write a letter on the art I truly look at. Not the one we are necessarily told to like. Just a slower, more personal, and freer way of looking at contemporary art. Three focal points. The selection: I present an artist. Everyday Uncommon: my eye, the exhibitions I see, and what I find there. Behind the Scenes: I talk about Avanvue, its projects, its choices, its philosophy.