Sergey Kononov's 'Mémoires' Closes October 10 at Galerie Max Hetzler Paris

Sergey Kononov's first exhibition in Galerie Max Hetzler's Paris space, titled Mémoires, closes Saturday, October 10. The show opened September 5, 2026, at 46 & 57 rue du Temple in the 4th arrondissement, with free entry. Born in Odessa in 1994 and now based in Paris, the Ukrainian painter works from photographs taken over the past five years — friends, relatives, moments of intimacy — which he slowly transfers to oil on canvas, layer after layer, letting the snapshot become a painting and time slow down. In Svitlana and Slavik, an entwined couple appears to float against a deep, velvety green ground, the two bodies merging into one. Nuit Blanche experiments with an almost white palette, in which crumpled sheets gradually emerge around two female lovers. Elsewhere, a naked young man poses with a cigarette on a chevron parquet floor, and the artist's grandmother lies on a pink floral bedspread. The work evokes Botticelli's light, Gauguin's colors and Schiele's elongated silhouettes: a painting of tenderness and languor that offers a contemplative pause far from the upheavals Ukraine is enduring. Viewing is possible until Saturday, October 10, with free admission. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Friday 10am–6pm and Saturday 11am–7pm, closed Sunday and Monday; nearest métro stations are Rambuteau (line 11) and Hôtel de Ville (lines 1 and 11).