Ryan Schneider at the Citadelle: A Dialogue Between Primal Art and Technology

The European debut of Ryan Schneider is a bold and visceral event. Until November 23, 2025, the Citadelle – Centre d’art & Musée in Villefranche-sur-Mer hosts the American artist’s first solo exhibition in Europe: “Ceux qui nous guident” (Those Who Guide Us), an immersive reflection on the relationship between the body, nature, technology, and ancestral memory.

Born in Indianapolis in 1980 and now based in Joshua Tree, California, Schneider has developed a powerful visual language that blends painting, sculpture, and ritual. His works—created using oil pigments applied with sticks—stand out for their use of raw materials like wood and stone and for their shamanic, totemic energy.

The exhibition features over 30 works installed throughout the gardens, courtyards, and interior spaces of the Citadelle, creating a dynamic dialogue between the historic architecture and Schneider’s bold artistic vision. The show reveals two facets of his work: the brutal physicality of his sculptural process—cutting, carving, incising, sometimes even “attacking” the material—and his engagement with future technologies, through collaborations with a robotic sculptor that challenge the boundaries between man and machine.

During his residency at the Citadelle, Schneider produced site-specific works that fuse his raw aesthetic with the spirit of the location. Curated by Camille Frasca, the exhibition leads visitors through a meditative, sensory experience, where the silence of the landscape meets the monumental visual power of the sculptures.

Echoing German Expressionism and Native American mythology, Schneider’s visual universe has already found its place in major collections, including the Palm Springs Museum of Art, the Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, the Hall Art Foundation, and the Marquez Family Collection. His work has been featured in leading art publications such as Frieze, The New Yorker, Art in America, and ArtForum.

“Ceux qui nous guident” is more than an exhibition – it is a contemporary ritual, inviting the viewer to confront the essential, the untamed, and the invisible.
A rare opportunity to experience, through art, the primal power of matter and form.

📍 The exhibition is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Citadelle in Villefranche-sur-Mer.