Tony Soulié

Tony Soulié (1955, Paris) is a versatile French artist who made a name for himself internationally with a powerful blend of painting, photography, sculpture, installation art, and land art. He is part of the Nouvelle Abstraction movement, which gave French painting a fresh impetus in the 1970s and 1980s. His work has since been exhibited more than a hundred times worldwide and is included in museums and collections from Paris to Hawaii and from Rio de Janeiro to Seoul.

Soulié studied at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris and developed a distinctive visual language early on, centered on experimentation and material research. He is best known for his “photo-paintings”: large black-and-white photographs that he alters using acrylic, ink, varnish, and carborundum—a material he discovered in the artisanal furniture workshops near his studio in the Bastille district. The rough, grainy texture also alludes to his impressive land art projects on and around volcanoes, including Vesuvius and sites in Hawaii.

In addition to his paintings and photographic works, Soulié created numerous artist’s books and collaborations with writers and poets such as Michel Butor and J.M.G. Le Clézio. His career took him all over the world: from Africa, where he created series in places such as Benin and Zanzibar, to Murano, where he developed glass objects that reflect on the history of the slave trade.

In 2004, Tony Soulié was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in recognition of his contribution to French and international art. His body of work continues to evolve, with recent exhibitions in La Rochelle and elsewhere, as well as new sculptural series in which animism, rituals, and the energy of the landscape play a central role.

An established French artist, Tony Soulié works as a painter, photographer, installation artist, and writer. He paints abstract works with an instinctive brushstroke, drawing inspiration from his extensive travels.

Soulie has participated in more than 200 exhibitions throughout Europe, the United States, Latin America, and Japan, and his work is part of public and private collections around the world.

He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École des Arts Appliqués, both in Paris.