Michel VERJUX

A leading light sculptor in contemporary French art who treats “light” as a physical medium—much like paint or clay—transforming illuminated architectural spaces into artworks themselves.

■ Biography

Born in 1956 in Chalon-sur-Saône, France. After studying at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Dijon, he co-founded the contemporary art center “Le Consortium” in Dijon in 1983. That same year, he began creating his signature Éclairages (illuminations / light sculptures) series. He is currently based in Paris and teaches fine arts and sciences of art at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University (Paris 1).

• Establishing “Light Sculpture” (Éclairages)
  Instead of canvas or metal, Verjux uses “light itself” as his medium. By projecting geometric shapes of light—such as perfect circles or squares—onto walls, floors, and ceilings using theatrical spotlights, he conjures “sculptures” in space that possess an overwhelming presence despite their immateriality.
• Site-Specificity (In Situ)
  His works are fundamentally in situ (on site). Existing architectural structures—the texture of an illuminated wall, the corner of a room, the steps of a staircase, or a door frame—are isolated by light, seamlessly completing a singular artwork where light and space are indivisible. The works cannot simply be relocated to another space as they are.
• The Phenomenology of “Being There”
  By stripping away narrative and decoration to the absolute minimum, his minimalist light prompts the viewer to ask not “what is depicted,” but rather “how the space is perceived.” As viewers walk through the light and cast their own shadows onto the walls, they become physically integrated into the experience of the space and the artwork.

Artwork

Verjux’s work can generally be categorized by how the light intervenes within the architectural space:

• Projections on Flat Surfaces: Projecting perfect circles or squares onto flat walls, creating the illusion of luminous paintings floating in the dark.
• Spatial Sectioning and Connection: Projecting geometric light across corners, staircases, or pillars to distort architectural forms and generate new three-dimensional volumes.
• Intersecting Multiple Projections: Overlapping the trajectories of multiple spotlights to create complex layers and volumes of light within a given space.

Public Collections & Exhibitions

• Centre Pompidou, Paris
• Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
• MUDAM (Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art), Luxembourg
• Le Consortium, Dijon