From Matter to Light: The Artistic Odyssey of Éric Béridon
French visual plastic artist Éric Béridon has been commissioned by La Napoule Art Foundation for a new exhibition entitled “From Matter to Light”, which will be held from 29 May to 22 June 2025 in Mandelieu-La Napoule, France. Inviting visitors to take part in a profound sensory and intellectual experience, this exhibition will create a dialogue between several series of his works, which are the outcome of advanced research aimed at harmonising the materiality of the human body and the abstraction of the mind.
Béridon’s artistic practice fundamentally questions the relationships between body and mind and between matter and light. To symbolise the body, he uses raw materials such as charcoal, ash, ochre sand, metal and stones. These natural elements are then associated with geometric lines and shapes representing the mind. Light, as both wave and particle, plays a crucial role by connecting natural and conceptual elements.
Among the works on display, his recent pieces on ARCHES® Aquarelle paper, begun in 2023, hold a central position. His minimalist creations consist of grains of matter scattered and fixed on the sheet of paper, from which light seems to emerge. Despite their apparent simplicity, these works retain the vibratory appearance and random drawing characteristic of the artist.
©Éric Béridon, Untitled, Mixed technique (Charcoal, oxidised metal) on ARCHES® Aquarelle cold pressed paper – 2024
©Éric Béridon, Untitled, Mixed technique (Charcoal, oxidised metal) on ARCHES® Aquarelle cold pressed paper – 2024
©Éric Béridon, Untitled, Mixed technique (Charcoal, oxidised metal) on ARCHES® Aquarelle cold pressed paper – 2024
©Éric Béridon, Untitled, Mixed technique (Charcoal, oxidised metal) on ARCHES® Aquarelle cold pressed paper – 2024
The exhibition will also showcase his early sculptures, made from rusted metal and from ochre stones from the Lubéron massif, representing the passing of time, as well as the F Series, which he began in 2005.
Through this exhibition, Béridon will provide a unique perspective in which each piece of work becomes a subtle intersection between wild nature and human reflection, and between tangible matter and spiritual light.
The artist will give a guided tour of the exhibition on 3 June 2025 in the afternoon.
©Éric Béridon, “F103”, Mixed technique (Ash, ochre sand, LEDs), 2018
About the artist
Éric Béridon was born in 1961 in Béjaïa, Algeria. A contemporary artist, he is known for his fascinating perpetual quest for the essence of life, going beyond the visible to touch the very soul of materials. Béridon lives and works in France. In 1982, he transcended a motorcycle accident that left him immobilised for several months, using this period as an opportunity to develop a profound artistic reflection.
His work explores the intertwined relationships between nature and culture, body and mind, and the material and spiritual. His artistic approach is therefore meant to be subtractive, seeking to streamline his movements to allow nature and matter to emerge.
Béridon’s artistic career began in 1991 when his first works were exhibited at the Château d’If in Marseille. In 1993, his talent was recognised at the Loire Salon d’Automne, where he was awarded first prize for young painters. The following years saw the birth of his first sculptures, marked by his tribute to deportees produced in 2005 for the Town Hall of Valbonne-Sophia Antipolis, as well as his remarkable transition to two-dimensional work with the F series, which he began the same year.
These works explore contrasts in texture and tone, while questioning the relationship between natural light and material elements. Béridon uses raw materials such as ochre stone and oxidised metal, which symbolise the passing of time, using light to elevate them and breathe new life into them.
His exhibitions around the world, from London to San Francisco, and the countless contemporary art fairs in which he has taken part have reinforced his status as a truly international artist. In 2023, Béridon began embarking on a new artistic path through works on paper, aiming for maximum simplicity to reveal the connection between the visible and invisible.
“Since 2023, I’ve found a new path in my desire to move towards artwork that’s as uncluttered as possible – but without betraying the axis of my research, which is to track down the essence of life beyond existence”.
