CESAR PIETTE  – COLLISION

Inspired by everyday life, César PIETTE presents a visual spectacle that explores the collision between human and machine collaboration through his digitally produced works. His exhibition titled “Collision,” curated by Dr. Zeynep ÖZTÜRK, is set to meet art lovers at DG Art Project on Wednesday, October 1.

French artist César Piette is preparing to present his new exhibition in Istanbul on October 1, 2025, hosted by DG Art Project. Composed of conceptually radical and striking works, the exhibition “Collision,” curated by Dr. Zeynep Öztürk, focuses on the anxiety and beauty inherent in the collaboration and conflict between humans and machines.

Coming from the worlds of illustration and video games, the artist masterfully blends traditional figurative painting techniques with today’s digital culture. This selection stands at the intersection of traditional painting and the possibilities offered by digital manipulation.

Through his works created with the airbrush technique, Piette produces “hyperplastic,” three-dimensional visual effects that do more than translate digital imagery into physical form; he also questions their artificiality, flawless allure, and fragmented nature throughout the production process. By transferring the language of 3D illustration, digital avatars, emoticons, and application interfaces onto canvas, the artist disrupts smooth digital surfaces with painterly interventions—gestures that function as a form of resistance against the rapidly consumed visual flow of digital culture.

Piette’s works make visible the superficial conveniences of modern life shaped by algorithms and platforms. Fruits, animals, packaging, icons, objects, and figures encountered in everyday life transform into glossy, artificial constructions within his practice. Through this method, he both exposes the artificiality of digital culture and opens a discussion on the ideological motivations behind the aesthetics of consumption. The collisions within his compositions recall the anti-art gestures of early modernist movements such as Cubism, Futurism, and Dadaism. Similarly, Piette disrupts viewers’ expectations by fragmenting or layering images, undermining the flawless logic of digital readability.

By juxtaposing plasticized forms with expressionist brushstrokes, Piette’s paintings go beyond an aesthetic game; they function as an artistic response to the social, technological, and cultural tensions of our time. The “accidental” overflow marks and manual gestures in his works suggest the existence of a chaotic, fragmented, and fragile reality beneath the hyper-real digital world. In this sense, “Collision” offers both an appealing digital escape and a critical perspective on virtual environments that alienate the individual. The exhibition also reveals the artist’s effort to reinterpret the tradition of painting in the age of technology.

The exhibition “Collision,” where viewers can closely experience the latest developments in Piette’s continuously evolving experimental practice, will be on view at DG Art Project between October 1 and November 2, 2025.

ABOUT CÉSAR PIETTE

Born in Lille, France, in 1982, César PIETTE completed his undergraduate education in the field of fine arts. Between 2005 and 2012, he worked as a freelance illustrator and produced various video game designs. The traditional techniques he masterfully employs in his practice highlight his strong connection to figurative painting. Incorporating three-dimensional effects that intersect with design, photography, and advertising, PIETTE emphasizes monochromatic layering, perspective, light, composition, and pronounced shading techniques, creating “hyperplastic” imagery through the use of the airbrush technique.

By transferring materials he encounters in everyday life into his works, César PIETTE constructs classical themes, frequently featuring nude figures, birds, and vanitas motifs in his compositions. After completing his master’s degree in graphic arts and design, PIETTE continues to develop his practice, drawing inspiration from daily life and emphasizing artificial objects through references to art history, on the Côte d’Azur, represented by Almine Rech Gallery.