
How Ancient and Modern Ideas Come Together in Kethevane Cellard’s Art


Kethevane Cellard is a Paris-based artist whose work beautifully captures how we understand ourselves, our relationships, and our world. In this interview, Kethevane opens up about her creative process, her love for muted tones, and her exploring new materials to keep her art evolving. She talks about finding meaning in a busy, complex world and how her art speaks about the beauty of being different. She also shares her experience balancing motherhood with her art life, connecting with younger audiences through workshops, and showcasing her work internationally.

Kethevane Cellard (b.1975, Paris, Fr) is an artist working on the mental representation — the mindscape— of our relationships with ourselves, others, and our surroundings. Her work navigates between ink drawing and wood sculpture and recently expanded into 3D printing. Cellard’s entities and compositions feature free-floating forms in monochromatic or muted tones, bridging ancestral art, social sciences, and contemporary events. Her ambiguous, hybrid forms weave the ancient with the modern in search of vitality.
Cellard earned an MA with Honours from E.N.S.A.D. (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France), and pursued at A.N.R.T. Atelier Nationale de Recherche Typographique in Paris, France. She participated in exhibitions both locally (Galerie des Femmes, Paris, Fr, Galerie Alexandre Piatti, Paris, Fr, Galerie Julio Gonzales, Arcueil) and internationally (Feinkunst Kruger, Hamburg, DE, StudioBlock 74, CDMX, Mexico, Haze Gallery, Berlin, DE). In 2021, Cellard had her first solo show commissioned by Galerie Julio Gonzales in Arcueil, linked to a workshop she gave. Her work is held in private collections in Europe and the USA and in a public collection in the Greater Paris Area. She lives and works in Arcueil (Greater Paris area), France.
1. Your work bridges ancient arts, social sciences, and contemporary events. How do these influences shape the hybrid forms in your art?
As Viktor Frankel pointed out, the most important thing for mankind is to find (or create) meaning for yourself. My artwork stems from my search for meaning as I try to make sense of contemporary events and people’s behavior, individually or collectively. I’m feeding on authors and thinkers who have generously shared their thoughts. I spend a lot of time reading and listening to books and interviews during my long hours of drawing.
I feel like a hybrid, as I feel connected to both the intellectual and elementary worlds of sensations and bodily needs and longings. In a time when we’re submerged by too much information and when people seem increasingly attracted to simplistic ideas as a reaction to the complexity and overwhelm, I’m looking for moderation and pragmatism. My hybrid forms are woven of conflicting elements into an uncanny but weirdly coherent entity. They are the personification of dialogue and do not give into simplistic narratives. They stand firm in their strangeness, or despite of their strangeness.
It is said both in quantum physics and in meditation that observing is an act that changes the result of the experience.
Kethevane Cellard

2. Your monochrome and neutral-toned entities evoke a sense of timelessness. What draws you to this restrained palette?
Just as you said, it’s about timelessness. Newness is significantly overstated; new ideas don’t happen that often. The underlying dynamics of almost every event stem from human interactions, and emotions play a significant role in this. The world is a continual remix of the same psychological forces embodied in different times and fights. There is also my relationship with myself and how I grow. I love this quote by David Lynch: “Inside, we are all ageless… and when we talk to ourselves, it’s the same age of the person we were talking to when we were little. It’s the body that is changing around that ageless center.”. I like to stay near this ageless center, day after day. Along with longing for this meditative life, I get overwhelmed easily by intense colours. I much prefer natural tones in my everyday life.

3. What inspired your recent exploration into 3D printing, and how has it expanded your artistic practice?
A few years back, I started to feel the need for a secondary material to associate with wood. I wanted a dialogue between two materials. I got obsessed with this, so I didn’t like making wood-only sculptures. I tried a variety of materials over two years and finally came up with a personal technique to use 3D filament. I wanted to have some translucency. I also wanted something that was not too fussy on the production side. I’ve been very low-tech in my practice so far. While I don’t mind high tech, I hate wasting time on setups and technical glitches.
I don’t have much time and don’t want to waste it on technicalities. I’m a mother of two boys (10 and 13), and I want my practice to be easy to drop immediately and pick up again. This is how I’ve managed to do work since I was a new mother, in short bits of time whenever I could. I’d love to try no-hassle glass techniques at some points, like glass molding or stringers with a torch. I will probably try this in the coming couple of years!
4. Your 2021 solo exhibition included a school workshop. How has engaging with younger audiences influenced your perspective as an artist?
I’m in my late forties, and the confrontation with teens has been eye-opening from a communication perspective. The kids in this school have such a different life experience than mine! They spend their lives on their phones and have no spontaneous taste for slowness, meditative experiences, or monochromatic artworks. Reaching out and finding a connection with them was a real communication challenge. The workshop theme, Archeofictions, helped me communicate about sci-fi narratives (I’m a sci-fi fan). I enjoyed this experience very much as it had to boil down what I said into universal and transversal statements. I was present alongside their art teacher, and I learned a lot by watching him operate too!

My work explores the mental representation — the mindscape— of our relationships to ourselves, others, and our surroundings.
Kethevane Cellard
5. You’ve exhibited internationally and have worked in collections across Europe and the USA. How do cultural contexts influence how your art is received?
A lot of my work is based on timeless elements and archetypes. My visual vocabulary is quite transversal in time and space, and I found that a good part of it was read pretty evenly on the two continents where I exhibited to date. That said, there are some shifts in what people see first or see most. In California, where Asian culture is quite present, many people felt that my work had much to do with Asian culture. And my philosophy indeed echoes some Asian philosophies — as much as it does stoicism. Black & White ink work on paper is a lot more common in Asia and has been the most prominent technique for centuries. In Europe, the broader public still sees it as a lower version of oil painting. I can’t wait to get a chance to show in Asia!

6. As someone living and working near Paris, how does your environment in Arcueil inform your creative process?
I have to admit the city where I live doesn’t influence me much, from what I can tell. I am not very social, unfortunately. I love to spend my time drawing, carving, and reading… That said, the living environment in Arcueil is an excellent mix of being close to Paris and having space. Space was pretty cheap when we arrived here over ten years ago, allowing me to start carving. It’s a practice I would not have picked up if it wasn’t for my large house.

Kethevane Cellard’s art shows us the beauty in the unexpected and the power of accepting what makes us unique. Her ability to combine old and new ideas creates work that feels timeless and meaningful. By sharing her experiences and reflections, she reminds us that art isn’t just about creating—it’s about finding connection and understanding in our everyday lives. To learn more about Kethevane, click the following links to visit her profile.
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