Claudia Comte (b. 1983, Grancy) is a Swiss artist based in Basel, Switzerland.
Working across site-specific installation, painting and sculpture, her practice is guided by a longstanding interest in teasing out the history and memory of biomorphic forms through traditional hand processes, industrial and machine technologies. At the heart of Comte’s installations are monumental wall paintings and serial sculptures inspired by organic patterns and morphology such as waves, sonar, cacti and rock strata, that are playfully recomposed within fluid and immersive environments.
Drawing on the powers of communication, knowledge and symbiosis between animal and plant life, Comte’s dynamic and shape-shifting objects pay testament to the intelligence and transformative capacities of the ecological world.
Comte studied at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL (2004-2007) followed by a Masters of Art in Science of Education at Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland (2008-2010). Her body of work is best known for her site-specific installations. The artist's practice is guided by a distinct rule-measurement system of her own creation, wherein each artwork specifically relates to one another. Comte's minimalist approach to art making is equal parts methodical and dynamic; works are infused with a distinct sense of playfulness. Her artistic output incorporates a diverse range of mediums from sculpture, to painting, to various multimedia installations.
Her work has been widely presented in solo and group exhibitions, including There Was No Up, There Was No Down, There Was No Side to Side, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2024), The Origin of the Shockwave Ripple Effect (yellow and turquoise), EMST, Athens (2024), The Bright Side of the Desert Moon, Noor Riyadh (2023), Solo Summer Group Show III, Solo Houses, Matarraña (2023), Waves, Cacti and Sunsets, Globus Public Art Project in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2023), Marine Wildfire & Underwater Forests, Gladstone Gallery, Seoul (2023), The Liberation of Form. Barbara Hepworth - A Master of Abstraction in the Mirror of Modernism, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2023), Desert Flood, Lago/Algo, Mexico City (2023), From Where We Rise, Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico 2023, Through Dry Ocean Forests, Albarran Bourdais, Madrid (2022), An Impending Disaster (HAHAHA), König Galerie im KHK Wien (2022), Geometric Opulence, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2022), Desert X AlUla, Saudi Arabia (2022), Tree Line Curve, Rolex Learning Center, EPFL Lausanne (2021), The Dreamers, 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennale (2021), After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2021), Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin (2021), The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn (2020), How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli (2019), I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary (2019), Zigzags and Diagonals, MOCA Cleveland (2018), Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel (2018), KölnSkulptur #9, SkulpturenPark Köln (2017), NOW I WON, Messeplatz, Art Basel (2017), 10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum Luzern (2017), The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, New York (2016) and Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2014).
Passionate about using art as a tool for connecting marine conservation, policy change and climate education, she has collaborated with several organisations on projects, including a residency and underwater commission developed with TB21-Academy in 2019 to raise awareness of coral health around the Alligator Head Foundation in Jamaica. (Gabe Beckhurst, 2022)
This website, and the very nature of it, essentially reflects and embodies the systematic nature of Claudia Comte’s work. It is meant to function as an exhaustive archive of her production to date and demonstrate the playful and permutation-oriented thinking that motivates and is thoroughly embedded within what she does. Anyone interested in the secret of her practice will be able to access it here, for it is fully accessible, and it turns out, not much of a secret (which it just so happens, is its secret). Eschewing medium-specific taxonomies (sculpture, painting, drawing, etc), the site is composed of images, which are organized according to color, grading, as one scrolls down, from black-and-white to more complex color combinations. For those interested in a more traditional presentation, there is a filter section where you can browse according to mediums, techniques or areas of specific interest, or you can even assemble your own combinations of works. (Chris Sharp, 2017)
Master of Art in Science of Education, Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
BA Visual Arts, Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Art Collection of the Canton Zürich (CH)
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore (USA)
BCV Art collection (CH)
Castello di Rivoli, Turin (IT)
Collection Bundesamt für Kultur (CH)
Collection of ECAL - Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (CH)
Collection of Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (CH)
Credit Suisse Collection (CH)
Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson, Madrid (ES)
Fondation pour l’Art Contemporain Claudine et Jean-Marc Salomon, Annecy (FR)
Julius Baer Collection (CH)
Kunstmuseum Luzern (CH)
Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles (USA)
Mobiliar Art Collection (CH)
MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA)
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (CH)
Musée Jenisch, Vevey (CH)
Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (CH)
Nationale Suisse Art Collection (CH)
Novartis Art Collection, Basel (CH)
The Maurice and Paul Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles (USA)
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection
UBS Art Collection (CH)
Ascending the Ashes: A Tale of Renewal, K&L Museum, Seoul, Korea
There Was No Up, There Was No Down, There Was No Side To Side, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Birds and Trees, permanent installation, Cosmos Dübendorf, Zurich, Switzerland
Home Sweet Home, Vistamare, Milano, Italy
The Origin of the Shockwave Ripple Effect (yellow and turquoise), EMST, Athens, Greece
Cacti, Waves and Sunsets, Globus Public Art Project in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland
Marine Wildfire & Underwater Forests, Gladstone Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
From Where We Rise, Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Through Dry Ocean Forests, Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid, Spain
Five Marble Leaves, Central Wharf Park, Boston, USA
An Impending Disaster (hahaha), König Galerie im Kleines Haus der Kunst, Vienna, Austria
Tree Line Curve, Rolex Learning Center, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
The Interview Paintings Ensemble (mise en scène in 12 Acts), Art Basel Parcours, StadtCasino, Basel, Switzerland
After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen - Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
Dreaming of Alligator Head, König Digital, König Galerie
Jungle and Corals, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Austria
Corals and Jungle, CLAUDIA COMTE x KÖNIG GALERIE, Kunsttage Basel, Basel, Switzerland
How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Fruits and Jungle, König Galerie, London, UK
The Cavern of Lost Dreams (nine characters), Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Bunnies and ZigZag, Galerie Joy de Rouvre, Geneva, Switzerland
I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Danmark
The Morphing Scallops, Gladstone Gallery, 24th St, New York, USA
Fruits and Bodies, Villa Wenkenhof & Alexander Clavel Prize 2018, Switzerland
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Electric Burst (Lines and Zigzags), Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, USA
Zigzags and Diagonals, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, USA
The Primary Fondue Party, Salon Suisse: ATARAXIA / Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
La Ligne Claire, curated by Samuel Leuenberger at Basement Roma, Rome, Italy
Black and White Circles in the Sky, solo exhibition curated by Christoph Doswald, Münsterhof, Zurich, Switzerland
NOW I WON, curated by Chus Martinez, Messeplatz, Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland
10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum, Luzern, Switzerland
Solo booth for ArtGeneve, with König Galerie, ArtGeneve 2017, Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland
The Curves, the Corners and the Machines, Festival International d‘Art Toulouse at le Bazacle, Toulouse, France
Zigzag division, Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Catch The Tail By The Tiger, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
The Primary Fondue Party, performance organized with BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
Sonic Geometry, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
Sonic Geometry, Galerie Art et Essaie, Rennes, France
Story Bumping, Milieu Galerie, Bern, Switzerland
No Melon No Lemon, Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA
Le Passage de L’Etoile, with Guillaume Pilet, Vevey, Switzerland
Fluide Glacial, LISTE, with BolteLang, Basel,
Solo presentation Art Brussels, with Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Easy Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
Sharp Sharp, David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, Ireland
All Work and All Play, Toshiba House, Besançon, France
Claudia Comte & Omar Ba, Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland
Wir baden auf der Freianlage, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
If I were a rabbit, where would I keep my gloves?, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
X, Y, Z, Friart, Centre d’Art de Fribourg, Switzerland
Summer Villa Extension, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France
NO LEMON NO MELON, Tripode, Nantes, France
From Zanzibar to Acapulco, with Guillaume Pilet, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland
Trouble Rainbow III, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
Vanity Loop, Kunst am Bau, Yverdon Gymnasium, Canton Vaud, Switzerland
From Acapulco to Zanzibar, with Guillaume Pilet, La Rada, Locarno, Switzerland
Scantione-Tensione, Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy
IBIZA, Milieu Gallery, with Vittorio Brodmann, Bern, Switzerland
Trouble Rainbow II, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, Favorite Goods, Los Angeles, USA
Trouble Rainbow, with A. Galiciadis and M. Mousset, Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch, Roma, Italy
Estampes, Studio Raynald Métraux, Lausanne, Switzerland
Welcome to Colorful, Lucy Mackintosh Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland
Rond Point, Darse Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
You cut but you can’t, with Mélodie Mousset, Galerie 20qmberlin, Berlin, Germany
Naturalisés, collaboration with Tatiana Rihs, Musée Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland
Inimitable, Galerie Lucy Mackintosh, Lausanne, Switzerland
Georges abstraction surface air, Bureau des vidéos, Le George, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Video projection, Rêves, Window of Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France
L’Echo, standard deluxe, Lausanne, Switzerland
TBA21–Academy Residency: Claudia Comte at Alligator Head Foundation, Port Antonio, Jamaica
The Irène Reymond Foundation Prize, Switzerland
The Current, TBA21-Academy, expedition and residency, New Zealand
Kulturförderpreis 2018 der Alexander Clavel Stiftung, Riehen, Switzerland
International Artists-In-Labs Residency – Russian-Swiss Exchange, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Division Ipae of Russian Academy of Sciences at Jekaterinburg, Russia
Prix de la Ville du Locle, Triennale de l’Art Imprime Contemporain, Switzerland
Sponsorship Award, Stiftung für die Graphische Kunst in der Schweiz, Switzerland
Swiss Art Award
Pro Helvetia Residency, Johannesburg, South Africa
Kiefer Hablitzel Award, Switzerland
Mobiliar Award, Switzerland
Support from the UBS Foundation for Contemporary Art, Switzerland
Support from the Canton Vaud, Switzerland
Support from the city of Lausanne, Switzerland
Residency Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy
Residency Vent des Forêts, Meuse, France
Residency galerie Zwanzigquadrameter, Berlin, Germany
Residency Cité des Arts, Paris, Laureate of l’atelier Vaudois du 700ème, France
Support from the Social and Cultural Association for the Swiss in Paris, France
The Big Marble Trio (cactus, leaf and coral) and Digging Snakes (freestanding wallpainting), Jing'an International Sculpture Project, Shanghai, China
Regenerative Futures, Fondation Thalie, Brussels, Belgium
The Bright Side of the Desert Moon, Noor Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Solo Summer Group Show III at Solo Houses, Matarraña, Spain
Hot Saw - Power Edition, Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark
The Liberation of Form. Barbara Hepworth - A Master of Abstraction in the Mirror of Modernism, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
Desert Flood, LagoAlgo, Mexico City, Mexico
Geometric Opulence, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
Desert X AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia
Voices in the Evening, Vistamare, Milan, Italy
Abundant Futures, C3A Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain
Omnibus, Kinderhook & Caracas, Berlin, Germany
Hypermaremma, Pescia Fiorentina, IT
The Dreamers, 58th October Salon - Belgrade Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia
Painting in Person. The new Collection of Fondazione CRC, Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco, Cuneo, Italy
One Decade of Female Sculptors, Kleines Haus der Kunst, Vienna, Austria
Stretch Marks, projects+gallery, St-Louis, Missouri, USA
Group Show 2021, Galerie Joy de Rouvre, Genève, Switzerland
Kunst & Nachhaltigkeit Vol 14: 25 Jahre Prix Mobilière, die Mobiliar, Bern, Switzerland
Solo Summer Group Show II, Solo Houses, Galería Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid, Spain
The Dreamers, 58th October Salon - Belgrade Biennale, Serbia
Môtiers 2021 - Art en plein air, Môtiers, Switzerland
Ever Seen Never Seen, Akkurat Labs, Berlin, Germany
La sculpture suisse depuis 1945, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland
Nature of Robotics: An Expanded Field, EPFL ArtLab, Lausanne, Switzerland
Bunnies & Dogs, Ruttkowski;68 Gallery, Paris, France
This Morning, in the Sweet Torpor of the great Forest, is Like Every Morning in the World, curated by Samuel Leuenberger & Claudia Comte, Country Salts, Bennwil, Switzerland
Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, 21st, New York, USA
The Sunrise Sings, TARMAK, Gstaad, Switzerland
Figures on Ground, Foundation CAB, Brussels, Belgium
Sculpture Zeitgeist?, Achenbach Hagemeier, Dusseldorf, Germany
Zone dangereuse, curated by Thomas Zitzwitz, Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery, Luxembourg
Delirious, Lustwarande, Tilburg, Netherlands
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Benefit Exhibition, Gladstone Gallery, 21st St, New York City, USA
HOLZSCHNITT NOW! XYLON Deutschland und Schweiz mit Gästen, Kunstmuseum Reutlingen, Switzerland
"Exclusively Contemporary" on the occasion of 100 years of the Swiss Society of Engraving, Cabinet d’Estampes, Geneva, Switzerland
20 years Kunst Raum Riehen - The Jubilee Exhibition, Kunst Raum, Riehen, Switzerland
Biennale Gherdeina VI, Ortisei, Italy
100 Jahre Schweizerische Graphische Gesellschaft, Graphische Sammlung, Zurich
UNTITLED (MONOCHROME), 1957-2017, curated by Gregory Lang, Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York, USA
Hot Saw - Electric Power, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
Crib II, curated by Yves Scherer, Galerie 95, Biel, Switzerland
SkulptureKöln #9 "La Fin de Babylone. Mich wundert, dass ich so fröhlich bin!” curated by Chus Martinez, Sculpture Park Cologne, Germany
Beneath the Salt, presented by Conglomerate with Joe Clark and Lauryn Youden, Kinderhook and Caracas, Berlin, Germany
Curves and Zigzags, Desert X, Palm Springs, USA
128 triangles and their demonstration, Installation for the Public sector at ArtBasel Miami Beach, USA
The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, City Hall Park Lower Manhattan, New York, USA
UM DIE ECKE DENKEN – DIE SAMMLUNG (1986-2016), Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
Tous les tableaux sont à l’envers, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland
/Quiz 2, Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Christmas show, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland
Des Seins à Dessein, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland
Ligne Aveugle, ISBA, Besançon, France
Full House, Bunk Club at Shanaynay, Paris, France
Architecture & Nature, curated by Simon Lamunière, Domaine de Muy, Contemporary Sculpture Park, France
My Lonely Days Are Gone Part 2, curated by Arturo Herrera, Arratia Beer, Berlin, Germany
Art Imprimé, Triennale 2015, Musee des Beaux-Arts Le Locle, Le Locle, Switzerland
"Pour que vous aimiez quelque chose il faut que vous l'ayez vu et entendu depuis longtemps tas d’idiots." Francis Picabia, Performance at Collection Cahiers d’Artistes 2015, LISTE, Basel, Switzerland
WLGTDWI - a performance evening with Claudia Comte, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland
Môtiers Art en plein air 2015, Môtiers, Switzerland
Gargle/Spit, curated by Kenny Schachter, TBD, New York, USA
Work Hard: Selections by Valentin Carron, Swiss Institute, New York, USA
Reliability of Recognition, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
Elevation 1049, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gstaad, Switzerland
Post-Op. Perceptual Gone Painterly / Du perceptuel au pictural. 1958 – 2014, curated by Matthieu Poirier, Galerie Perrotin, Paris France
BolteLang Stadtbiotop 2014, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
Bex & Arts, triennale de la sculpture Suisse, Bex, Switzerland
Ars Multiplicata, Kunsthalle Koidl, Berlin, Germany
Post-Mortem, Forde, Geneva, Switzerland
Draft for a particular vision of the future, Bar Babette, Berlin, Germany
Châteaux Secrets, Fondation Ricard, Iles des Embiez
Mixed Message Media, curated by Neville Wakefield, Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA
Harum Scarum, Galerie Blancpain, Geneva, Switzerland
Paraphernalia, Telemark Contemporary Art Center, Skien, Norway
Under 30, Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland
La jeunesse est un art, Kunsthaus Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland
Tell The Children / Abstraction pour enfant, La Salle de Bain, Lyon, France
If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend 6 sharpening my ax, Kunst Raum, Riehen, Switzerland
Territoires, Bex & Arts, Swiss Sculpture Triannual, Bex, Switzerland
Train Fantôme, Cruise and Callas Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Rock The Casbah, Swiss Institute of Rome, Rome, Italy
20 ans des espaces d’une sculpture, Visarte Vaud, Parc de Mont Repos, Lausanne, Switzerland
Le Fédéral à Semen-Contra, Rotwand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
Accrochage Vaud 2011, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Jeune Création 2010, Le CENTQUATRE, Paris, France
Minipic, Pauline’s, New York, USA
10 ans du MUDAC, collaboration with Tatiana Rihs, Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland
I could do that! No, you could’t!, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland
Kawabanga, Espace Delrue, La Barthoteque, Nantes, France
Condominia, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland
I am by birth a Genevese, Espace Forde, Geneva, Switzerland
I am by birth a Genevese, Vegas Gallery, London, UK
Transit, collective urban exhibition, Renens, Switzerland
Patapsychique, Library of the Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France
Le Spectrarium, Le Corbusier Pavillion, Cité universitaire, Paris, France
Made by ECAL, Espace lausannois d’art contemporain, Renens, Switzerland
Abstraction-Extension, Fondation Salomon, Alex, France
That’s all Folks!, Chez Popper, Geneva, Switzerland
X, proposed by N. Wagnières, galerie 1m3, Lausanne, Switzerland
Black Diaspora, exposition collective, Galerie Out of this World, Montreux, Switzerland
Weihnachtsmarkt, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland
Athéne, Claudia, Orlane, Milieu Gallery, Bern, Switzerland
Cabinet Budget, collective exhibition, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland
Sonal, collective exhibition of sound installations, Arsenic, Lausanne, Switzerland
Sublime, collective exhibition, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland
Morgenstern, collective exhibition, Château de Morges, Morges, Switzerland
Mini-golf, collective exhibition, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland
Accrochage, Vaud 2005, collective exhibition, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Académie de sculpture, proposition by Pierre Vadi, Atelier 304, Usine, Geneva, Switzerland
Les Urbaines, young videographers at the Cinemathèque Suisse, « Rêves », Lausanne, Switzerland