Samson Penot develops a sculptural practice centered around wood. His bas-reliefs, wall sculptures and volumes explore the way time imprints itself into matter through different phenomena of transformation. Erosion, sedimentation and aging are ways of making perceptible the action of time as it passes, acts and does its work, both within matter and within our lives.
Across his different series, his works make visible that place where time leaves its imprint without ever naming itself, where it continues to flow without fully disappearing.
Samson Penot develops a sculptural practice centered around wood. His bas-reliefs, wall sculptures and volumes explore the way time imprints itself into matter through different phenomena of transformation. Erosion, sedimentation and aging are ways of making perceptible the action of time as it passes, acts and does its work, both within matter and within our lives.
Across his different series, his works make visible that place where time leaves its imprint without ever naming itself, where it continues to flow without fully disappearing.
BIOGRAPHY
Samson Penot, born in Paris in 1984, lives and works in his studio in Bayonne, in the Basque Country. After a first career dedicated to music composition, he now develops a sculptural practice centered around wood, working with bas-reliefs, wall sculptures and volumes.
For more than thirteen years, he composed and produced around a dozen albums for Kosinus and Universal Music, in the field of production music. At the same time, he began working with wood and marquetry, first through objects and lighting pieces, before gradually directing this research towards sculpture and wall reliefs.
In 2021, a two-year solo journey on his sailboat marked a turning point in his practice. He then left the world of music to devote himself fully to his sculptural activity. Since settling in Bayonne, he has developed several series around matter, time and transformation.
Represented by Galerie Sophie Leiser in Biarritz and by ART[s] Gallery in the Netherlands, his work has been shown in galleries, cultural events and contemporary art fairs in France and across Europe, including Lausanne Art Fair in Switzerland and Luxembourg Art Fair.
Samson Penot (born 1984 in Paris) lives and works in Bayonne, in the Basque Country. He develops a sculptural practice centered on wood, creating bas-reliefs, wall sculptures and freestanding volumes.
His works explore phenomena of transformation and the way time imprints itself into matter, playing with perception, shadow and light.
His work blurs the boundaries between what we see, what we think we see, and what is.
Born into a family of artists, he initially pursued music. After his studies, he travelled the world for six years before returning to musical composition. For over thirteen years, he composed and produced around a dozen albums for Kosinus and Universal Music in the field of library music. Alongside this, he began working with wood and marquetry in his studio in the Cévennes. This material experimentation, first applied to objects and light fixtures, opened up a broader reflection on volume, matter and space.
In 2021, he stepped away from music and embarked on a two-year solo sailing journey between La Rochelle and Belle-Île. This experience marked a turning point, definitively opening up his artistic practice.
Since then, based in Bayonne, he has devoted his work entirely to sculpture. His series Galets and INS//TEMPS question the action of time and the elements on matter, and the way this transformation resonates with our own lives.
Represented by Galerie Sophie Leiser (Biarritz), his work has been shown in galleries and at cultural events across France, including at Cinéma Le Royal (Biarritz, rooftop, 2024) with Con7store Art Gallery.