From February 12 to April 11, 2026, Galerie Paris-B presents its first solo exhibition dedicated to François Malingrëy. A striking immersion into contemporary figurative painting, where the body becomes the site of a drama that is at once intimate, mythological, and pictorial.
On the walls of Paris-B, bodies never pose. They fall, support one another, collide, cling. InFrançois Malingrëy’s work, painting is a silent theater in which every gesture seems suspended at the precise moment when everything might tip over. The exhibition at Paris-B brings together a group of recent paintings that confirm the singularity of an artist for whom the body is less a subject than a true dramaturgical space.
The Body as a Theater of Contemporary Drama
In a taut, almost suffocating hyperrealism, François Malingrëy places his figures within settings that appear ordinary at first glance. Yet very quickly, the everyday begins to fracture. Exposed flesh, offered torsos, absent or defiant gazes transform the scene into a space charged with archaic tensions: desire and guilt, fraternity and rivalry, tenderness and violence.
The large group compositions function like choreographic scores. Awkward lifts, struggles, falls, and ambiguous embraces form a gestural vocabulary in which everything seems restrained, on the verge of collapse. Positioned at the level of the bodies, the viewer is drawn into the painting, caught within a narrative that always partly unfolds offstage.
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© François Malingrëy, courtesy of PARIS-B
A Painting Nourished by the Memory of the Masters
While François Malingrëy’s work is deeply contemporary, it constantly dialogues with the history of painting. Misty distances evoke the sfumato of the Italian Renaissance, while extended bodies, open arms, and offered torsos reactivate the gravity of Christ-like figures, from Rogier van der Weyden to Velázquez.
The light, inherited from Baroque chiaroscuro, sculpts volumes with an almost liturgical precision. Yet here, quotation is never literal. It functions as a parallel montage between ancient iconography and our present visual culture, as if the great foundational narratives were returning to haunt our contemporary scenes.
© François Malingrëy, courtesy of PARIS-B
A Body of Work Between Myth, Family, and Human Tragedy
In Malingrëy’s paintings, the family often becomes the site of primordial conflict. Through a limited number of characters, replayed from canvas to canvas, the great human frescoes unfold: wounded loyalty, jealousy, attachment, and betrayal. The myth of Abel and Cain, the Passion of Christ, and figures of martyrdom surface, displaced within a naturalistic framework that renders their violence all the more unsettling.
At times, the painter’s own silhouette appears—discreet, almost tutelary. A nod to the tradition of old masters who inserted themselves into their compositions, reminding us that here a guiding consciousness is at work, organizing the light and holding the thread of the narrative.
François Malingrëy, a Distinctive Figure in Contemporary Figurative Painting
Born in 1989 and a graduate of the Strasbourg School of Decorative Arts, François Malingrëy quickly established himself on the French and European institutional scenes. A prizewinner at the Salon de Montrouge, he has exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, and the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, among others.
With this first solo exhibition at Paris-B, the artist confirms a demanding and dense body of work, in which each painting functions as an open stage— a place where the present of bodies and the memory of painting overlap.
Practical Information
François Malingrëy
Galerie Paris-B
62 rue de Turbigo, 75003 Paris
February 12 – April 11, 2026
Opening reception: Thursday, February 12, 2026, 6–9 pm
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FAQ François Malingrëy
François Malingrëy’s first solo exhibition at Galerie Paris-B takes place in Paris’s 3rd arrondissement, from February 12 to April 11, 2026.
Who is François Malingrëy?
François Malingrëy is a contemporary French painter born in 1989. A graduate of the Strasbourg School of Decorative Arts, he develops an intense figurative practice focused on the body, dramaturgy, and the memory of art history.
What is the main theme of the exhibition?
The exhibition explores the body as a dramaturgical space. Through figurative scenes charged with tension, François Malingrëy examines desire, violence, fraternity, and founding myths, in dialogue with historical painting.
What kind of painting does François Malingrëy practice?
François Malingrëy develops a contemporary figurative painting style marked by taut hyperrealism, a strong staging of bodies, and a dramatic use of chiaroscuro.
Why is this exhibition important?
This exhibition marks a key moment in the artist’s career. It confirms the singularity of a demanding body of work, at the intersection of contemporary narrative and pictorial memory, and stands out as a significant event on the Parisian art scene.