Coderch & Malavia and Stéphane Joannes – A New Exhibition at In Arte Veritas Gallery

In Arte Veritas Gallery is delighted to present, for the second time in their shared journey, an exceptional exhibition bringing together the sculptors Coderch & Malavia and the painter Stéphane Joannes.

This duo of four-handed sculptors, gold medalists on a global scale, invites visitors to explore the beauty of movement and the power of the human body through works where sensitivity and energy meet. Opposite them, Stéphane Joannes’ new creations reveal, for the first time, his abstract work, where depth and delicacy engage in dialogue with the finesse of his internationally acclaimed figurative paintings.

An exhibition where grace, material, and light respond to each other, offering a unique emotional experience.

📍 In Arte Veritas Gallery – 10 rue de la Trinité, 31000 Toulouse
🗓 From November 6 to December 24, 2025

The words of Stéphane Joannes:
Spreading matter over a flat surface. I’ve returned to what lies at the very foundation of painting. I’ve tried to do it in the most synthetic, raw, and direct way possible to get to the essence. To avoid any chatter.
A paste loaded with marble powder and pigments serves as my paint, and whenever possible or meaningful, I’ve replaced brushes with my fingers or hands.
Then, it’s a matter of either removing to leave only what’s essential, or layering to let a story and a structure emerge, one unique to each space (each canvas). Within these layers lie the essential elements of painting. Then comes the search for balance through a mark, a writing, a scarification, a gesture, or a monochrome surface, etc. Each time it’s a quest for the most relevant vocabulary within that space — to enrich it by removing, pruning, erasing.

At the heart of this process may lie the idea of sedimentation, which acts like a photographic developer. Layer upon layer, until an image and a story appear, both being one and the same thing. And of course, for me, that image becomes all the more a mirror as it results from countless choices and a long conversation.
If this series were to have a title, it could be Sedimentation.
Black imposed itself as another way of getting to the essential through removal. It is both an erasure and a bearer of another form of verticality.
Materiality, depth, roots, erasure, verticality, you’ll find them recurring insistently throughout the different series, whether in a figurative or a literal way.