Levalet French, b. 1988

Born in Épinal, Charles Leval grew up in Guadeloupe before coming to Strasbourg to study visual arts and moving to Paris to take his agrégation in 2012. That year, he began to intervene in the streets of the capital with collages of his original drawings painted with Indian ink. Coming from video and theatre, Levalet has brought a new urban poetic vision, proceeding from a taste for laughter and the absurd as well as a will to create an experiential shift in a chance encounter with the passer-by-spectator. From Buster Keaton to Ernest Pignon-Ernest to Banksy, he is quickly considered the new genius of urban art, hijacking the architectural environment and urban furniture, and aiming to create unexpected trompe-l'oeil situations.
He began exhibiting in galleries in 2013, staging his work in installations and using paper silhouettes mounted on wood to continue the interactive experience initiated in the street. In a relaxed vision of image and narrative, Levalet speaks of the relationship with the passing of time, the relationship with others, false pretenses, the relationship with the environment, with the city... In 2018, Levalet moved to Reims. Since then, with a new workshop whose surface area is equal to his ambitions, he has been exploring new technical approaches around wood, initially from cutting to engraving, through assembly and various ways of revealing both matter and meaning. Since 2020, it is with concrete that her creativity is unfolding, accompanied by a new exploration of painting. These latest pieces evoke the theme of the city and nature, and man's relationship with this issue in urban territory.

The Chenus Longhi Gallery has organised three solo exhibitions in 2016, 2018 and 2021.