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 is the subject of acclaimed solo exhibitions such as Au Village at Lieu unique (Nantes, France, 2014), Fatum at the Maison Rouge - Fondation Antoine de Galbert (Paris, France, 2015), The Dancing Room at the Tinguely Museum (Basel, Switzerland, 2017), Devenir traces gathering more than 130 works in the historical spaces at the Chateau de Chambord (Chambord, France, 2018) and Jérôme Zonder, Portraits at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (France, 2019). In 2023, the artist will have a solo exhibition at Casino Luxembourg (Luxembourg) as well as at the Museum of Jewish Art and History in 2024 (Paris, France).
Jérôme Zonder has participated 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 Berardo Museum (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 Museum Tinguely (Basel, Switzerland, 2016), La jeune fille et la mort at the Drawing Centre Diepenheim (Diepenheim, Netherlands, 2016), XXL, Le dessin en grand and 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 works can be found in numerous international collections, including the Istanbul Modern Museum (Istanbul, Turkey), the Musée Jenisch Vevey (Switzerland), the Musée des beaux-arts du Locle (Le Locle, Switzerland), the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel, Switzerland), the Fonds Municipal d'Art Contemporain (Paris, France), the 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).
Jérôme Zonder is represented by Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris/Brussels, since 2016.