Born in Paris in 1974. Jérôme Zonder lives and works in Paris (France).
A graduate of the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in 2001, Jérôme Zonder has, for the last 20 years, developed a virtuosic work centered on the constantly reinvented practice of drawing. The variations in the scale of his works - realized in lead pencil and charcoal - generate spatial circulation games: the visitor strolls spatially and mentally through the mysteries of an extremely vivid polygraphic system. In his work, there are neighboring references to Albrecht Dürer, Robert Crumb, Rembrandt, Charles Burns, Otto Dix and Walt Disney, and together, these compose narratives with eclectic, sometimes cruel themes: "Narration pulls us into the drawing, and only the body keeps us on the surface. Drawing, for me, is existing constantly between distance and proximity, figuration and abstraction, attraction and repulsion." The singularity of his narrative, historical and sociological approach, along with his great technical skill make Jérôme Zonder one of the most interesting draftsmen of his generation.
Jérôme Zonder's work has been the subject of acclaimed solo exhibitions such as Au Village at Lieu unique (Nantes, France, 2014), Fatum at Maison Rouge - Fondation Antoine de Galbert (Paris, France, 2015), The Dancing Room at Musée Tinguely (Basel, Switzerland, 2017), Devenir traces bringing together over 130 works in the historic spaces of Château de Chambord (Chambord, France, 2018), Jérôme Zonder, Portraits at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (France, 2019), Joyeuse Apocalypse! at the Casino Luxembourg (Luxembourg, 2023) and C'est un petit chemin at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme in 2024 (Paris, France).
Jérôme Zonder has taken part in numerous group exhibitions, including Le Massacre des Innocents: Poussin, Picasso, Bacon at the Musée Condé curated by Laurent Le Bon and Pierre Rosenberg (2017, Chantilly, France), Guernica at the Musée Picasso Paris (Paris, France, 2018), Quel amour !? at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Marseille (France, 2018) and at the Musée Berardo (Lisbon, Portugal, 2019), Déflagrations - Dessins d'enfants et violences de masse at the MUCEM (Marseille, France, 2021), La Beauté du Diable at the FRAC Franche-Comté (Besançon, France, 2022) and at the MO.CO. in Montpellier (France, 2023).
Jérôme Zonder is receiving increasing attention on the international scene, as demonstrated by his participation in the exhibitions Prière de toucher at the Musée Tinguely (Basel, Switzerland, 2016), La jeune fille et la mort at the Drawing Centre Diepenheim (Diepenheim, Netherlands, 2016), XXL, Le dessin en grand suivie de Art cruel at the Musée Jenisch Vevey (Switzerland, 2021-2022) and Traverser la nuit - Works From The Antoine de Galbert Collection at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Lisbon, Portugal, 2022).
Jérôme Zonder's work can be found in numerous international collections, including the Istanbul Modern Museum (Istanbul, Turkey), Musée Jenisch Vevey (Switzerland), Musée des beaux-arts du Locle (Le Locle, Switzerland), Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel, Switzerland), Fonds Municipal d'Art Contemporain (Paris, France), Abattoirs, Musée - FRAC Occitanie (Toulouse, France), FRAC Picardie (Amiens, France), FRAC Auvergne (Clermont-Ferrand, France), Musée des Beaux-Art (Paris, France), Musée National de l'histoire de l'immigration (Paris, France), Collection Antoine de Galbert (Paris, France), Fondation Emerige, Collection Laurent Dumas (Paris, France) and Collection Florence et Daniel Guerlain (Paris, France).