Yona Grandjean

Painter and calligrapher, Yona Grandjean works at the Atelier Rochebrune, Paris 11th.

If writing is the central theme of her painting, Yona Grandjean approaches it in its original form of abstract drawing. Her work aims to restore these signs to their abstraction.

Situated within the movement of geometric abstraction and influenced by Constructivism, she uses the letter as a material to create architectures that emphasize the line. The monumental capital is ideal for this. It is a drawn letter, an architecture in itself. The lines that connect the letters in precarious balance bring their own dynamics.

Since 2024, she has been working on the impressions of partially erased writings like modern palimpsests. Letters are covered to give birth to a new work, but traces may emerge in places, in the blur, resonating, revealing their hidden presence.

While maintaining strong structures, the tension lies in the opposition between heavy black letters and the mist that seeps in, partially covering them and destabilizing the original construction.

Graphically, she enjoys strong oppositions: empty/full, black/white, matte/glossy, balance/imbalance, sharp/blurred.