The present exhibition gathers an ensemble of pastoral scenes depicting cattle in a variety of poses and environments. Although painted indoors, the works on view share the naturalist aspiration of their nineteenth-century antecedents: from Eugene Boudin's cow studies to the plein-air painting school of Barbizon.

Artistic representation of fauna typically elicits a comparison between the animal kingdom and human society. The bovine subjects of Nicolas Ceccaldi's paintings convey an enviable oneness with the world, characteristic of grazing cattle. The artist sought to illustrate the cows’ stoic composure as they engage in the perpetual repetition of the species’ collective destiny. Presiding over this existence is the Cowherd, a ruthless, unforgiving divinity symbolized in the exhibition by a large gyrating sculpture.


Nicolas Ceccaldi lives and works in New York. Animal Fiction is his second solo exhibition at Greene Naftali. Other solo exhibitions include Gaga, Los Angeles (2020); Greene Naftali, New York (2019); Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2017); Real Fine Arts, New York (2015); Kunstverein München, Munich (2014); and New Jerseyy, Basel (2013). Recent group shows include Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2018); Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2015); and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015), among others.