Artist: Philippe Pastor

Robilant+Voena presents an exhibition of paintings by Monegasque artist Philippe Pastor in Milan. The only artist to have represented Monaco at both the Venice Biennale (2007 and 2009) and the Milan Expo (2015), the exhibition presents new works from Pastor’s series North Pole, comprising large, monochrome, expressive canvases that evoke the duality of the power and fragility of the polar regions, and emphasise the dangers inherent to the continuous melting of the ice caps. These are shown alongside selected examples from the artist’s series from the past ten years, including Bleu Monochrome and Rose Bonbon. Collectively, the works exemplify the artist’s environmental advocacy and his mission to urge climate action. The exhibition is installed across two locations in Milan – at Robilant+Voena’s gallery on Via della Spiga, with the largest works shown at a special venue at Via Gargano 15 – offering an immersive encounter with these abstract works that percolates through the infrastructure of the city. This is Philippe Pastor’s third solo exhibition with the gallery and his first at Robilant+Voena’s Milan gallery, following presentations in St. Moritz and New York in 2024.

With this exhibition, Pastor debuts the most recent series of his signature abstract canvases, titled North Pole. The works range from large to monumental, inviting visitors to revel in the power of expression and gestural action implied through the works, while also considering the extensive research that is a core part of his practice. The artist creates each work with natural pigments that he personally sources from Morocco, working with raw materials that reflect the earth’s riches while alluding to their fragility and man’s exploitation of these resources.

The paintings in the show explicitly reference the crisis catalysed by global rising temperatures which are causing unprecedented ice melt in the polar and glacial regions. The contrast of light and dark, often striated across the canvases, suggests not only the tender balance of ice and water, of solid and liquid, but also of the violent crevasses that occur with the destruction and collapse of ice caps. In some of the works, pigment sits on the surface like rocky matter, reiterating the physical reality of the issues, its gritty presence a reminder of the gravity of this climate emergency. The urgency with which these marks appear to tussle on the canvas reflects the artist’s own concern about the immanent danger facing our planet.

Another layer of Pastor’s process is the exposure of his works to the elements, allowing space for nature to leave its mark on his creations. After applying his materials, the artist leaves the canvas in the open air, exposed to the four elements of wind, earth, rain and sun. The imprint of external, unpredictable factors imbue the work with a powerful message: that nature, despite man’s attempts to tame it, will ultimately remain outside our control and if we mistreat our planet, then we will bear the consequences.

The exhibition is accompanied by a digital catalogue including a conversation with Philippe Pastor by curator Caroline Corbetta, and an artist profile by journalist Axelle Corty.

Philippe Pastor (b. 1961, Monaco) is an artist whose wide-ranging practice encompasses painting, sculpture and mixed-media techniques. A determined advocate for the preservation of nature, Pastor uses his art to promote awareness and inspire action in support of environmental causes. There are two main complementary strands of his practice: abstract canvases, in which composition is defined through the use of natural pigments and raw elements, with Nature's contribution through the elements that compose it, and the sculpture series Les Arbres Brûlés (The Burnt Trees), an explicit denunciation of the devastation caused by forest fires and deforestation.

The only artist to represent the Principality of Monaco on an international stage – the Venice Biennale in 2007 and 2009, the Milan Expo in 2015 – Pastor aims to highlight the urgency of the climate emergency. He has collaborated with the United Nations within the framework of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), supporting and participating in the 'Plant for the Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign' project. Sculptures from the Les Arbres Brûlés series have been installed in Singapore, New York, Munich, Nairobi, Nice, Paris, and many other places, testifying to the artist's determination to promote the cause that characterises and fuels his very existence.

Pastor is also the founder of the Art & Environment Association. Launched in 2007 under the patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004, the Association organises exhibitions and events to promote widespread public awareness of climate change and the resulting damage to the planet.