Raphaël Barontini (b. 1984; Saint-Denis, France; lives and works in Paris) finds inspiration in paying homage to the legacies set by figures of historical movements for liberation. In a style of collage combining photography, silk screen printing, painting, and digital prints, Raphaël Barontini deploys a painting in movement that takes a new look at history while questioning the very status of painting in the museum and public space.

Flags, banners, tapestries and ceremonial capes are superimposed to create large immersive and illuminated scenographies that question the representation of power, its ceremonial and its carnivalesque inversion. For Barontini, challenging the canon of history surrounding cultures and territories that have experienced slavery or colonization remains priority. His work establishes a “counter-history” through the depiction of heroes, both real and imaginary.

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Raphaël Barontini's work has been exhibited in institutions around the world, including the SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah, USA), MAC VAL (Vitry-sur-Seine, France), MO.CO (Montpellier, France), Museum of African Diaspora (San Francisco, USA), The New Art Exchange Museum (Nottingham, UK) and Museum of Arts and Design (New York, USA). He has also participated in the international biennials of Bamako, Mali, Casablanca, Morocco, Lima, Peru, and Thessaloniki, Greece. In 2020, he was chosen by LVMH Métiers d'Art to complete a residency in Singapore. 

Barontini is the forthcoming Artist in Residence at Villa Albertine, New Orleans.

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