Biography

Franck Saïssi (born 1975, Grenoble) develops from Nice a body of work centered on unstable architectures, abandoned spaces, and threshold zones.
Trained at École Émile Cohl (Lyon), the Fine Arts Academy of Carrara (Italy), and the DAC Ateliers in Paris, he pursues a pictorial research that combines rigorous construction, the depth of black, and slow, layered processes rooted in Venetian techniques.

A formative event during his studies — a rupture that permanently shaped his relationship to reality — irrevocably directed his work toward spaces of fracture, sealed interiors, and zones where inside and outside contaminate one another. This experience functions as a foundation rather than a subject: a point of tension from which he constructs a mental, mnemonic, almost architectonic painting.

Based in Nice since the late 1990s, he has developed a demanding practice that also unfolds through drawings on antique books and nautical charts, playing with palimpsest, erasure, and the superimposition of narratives.

His solo and group exhibitions include:
Lost, Maison Abandonnée [Villa Cameline], Nice (2021) ;
Perfect Day : Drug and Art, WhiteBox, New York (2021–2022) ;
La Vie est un Film, Le 109, Nice (2019) ;
Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval, Musée du Facteur Cheval, Hauterives (2016).

He has also been presented at ST-ART Strasbourg and Paréidolie (Marseille, 2025).

For several years, he has collaborated closely with Hélène Fincker, director of the art center La Maison Abandonnée [Villa Cameline], whose support has played a significant role in the maturation and visibility of his work.