Born in 1975 in Mont Saint-Aignan (Normandy), Damien Cadio said he discovered painting "by chance" when he was an high school student: one of his classmates introduced him to Vincent Van Gogh’s artworks, then Francis Bacon’s one or the works of the filmmaker David Lynch. Followed a period of literary and artistic emulation : the both teenagers painted together, wrote manifestos, share knowledge. Step by step, Cadio’s artistic practice took up more and more space in his life of young man. Nevertheless, he finished his studies in biology. After this cursus, he decided to pass the entrance exams to the fine art school of the city of Rouen (École Supérieure d'Art et Design Le Havre-Rouen), from which he graduated in 1999. In 2001, he completed a Master degree - Fine Arts at the Sorbonne University and then joined the fine art school of the city of Paris (l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris). Since, Damien Cadio's works have been exhibited, in Paris, at the Maison Rouge, at the Palais de Tokyo but also in Amsterdam, New York and Berlin, where he spent fifteen years of his life.

Precise, well composed and extremely meticulous, Damien Cadio's work depict the common: In his artworks we could observe a few withered flowers forgotten in a vase, a glass, heavy red velvet curtains. He represente a form of banality but where there strangeness and mystery occur. Is it due to the composition, the framing, to the muted tones, to the classic style of the accomplish works? Maybe its due to the the distance and the silence that reign in his compositions which awake concern and curiosity? Or maybe the depict subject is not the subject of the painting ? Starting from everyday images, Cadio’s paintings becomes an undertaking of displacement, of decentering, by which every object or depict subject takes on an unknown weight : a new poetical meaning. Damien Cadio explain about this decentering : "I look for images that seem banal – because, once again, violence is never far away - and I pay attention to the details which brings out some signs of extraordinary events from a simple environment"

Whether in solo or group exhibitions, Damien Cadio's work has received international attention. For example, he has exhibited in Chelles at the Centre d'art Les Eglises (2023); Montpellier, MO. CO (2022); Nantes, FRAC Pays de la Loire (2022); Paris, Galerie Dilecta (2022), Galerie Maia Muller (2022), Galerie Valérie Delaunay (2021), Palais de Tokyo (2017); Amsterdam, Gallery Gerhard Hofland (2020) ; Berlin, BCMA (2019), Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (2019); Leipzig, Galerie Dukan (2017); New York, Kunstraum LCC (2017); Helsinki, Kiasma (2016 and 2017); or Seoul, SongEun Art Space (2013). As well as being nominated for the Prix Ricard (2009), Cadio has also won the Prix Antoine Marin, Arcueil (2014) and the Sovereign European Art Prize, London (2007).

More : www.damiencadio.com