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Galerie Messine is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of
Mathias Kiss / from june 5 to june 20, 2026.

Mathias Kiss

A Franco-Hungarian visual artist, Mathias Kiss challenges the boundaries between craftsmanship, and contemporary art, deconstructing the norms of classicism in his work. Trained in the restoration of historic monuments, painting, and ornamentation, his practice is deeply rooted in a profound knowledge of traditional craftsmanship and the codes of decorative art.

Mirrors, angles, and ornamentation are recurring motifs in his work, present for many years. “I have never truly separated art, craftsmanship, decoration, design, or architecture,” he explains. He embraces this transdisciplinarity, this continuity where gesture, material, and meaning intertwine.

Kiss describes his approach as “brutalist ornamentation,” capturing the tension at the heart of his work: a dialogue between architectural rigor and the radicality of transformation, between the memory of classical styles and their fragmentation. He feels the need to “free himself from technical and aesthetic dictates”.

His practice transforms classical codes into immersive installations, where mirrors, pixels, and light become architectural materials. Surfaces fragment, reflections multiply, and angles shift. Space is no longer merely represented—it is displaced, disrupted, questioned.

For Nuit Blanche 2026, under the theme of Love, he will take over the Petit Palais from June 6 to 14 with his monumental installation “Liquid Mirror,” a work in wood and a mosaic of mirrors. In dialogue with the architecture of the space, this installation will capture the present and immerse visitors in a visual and sensory experience.