Galleries
Echos Lointains (Distant Echoes) 102 x 73 cm
Following on from my series, Paysages, the desire to evoke nature has dissolved in favour of an explosion of colours. Brushstrokes have become lighter and more dispersed creating spaces of freedom.
No longer being tied by the need to produce an image, I let myself be guided by the density and the energy of colours which merge, attract and repulse; a dynamic and profound universe takes the stage, a kind of original chaos from which all of life may spring.
The subtle and varied touches of colour, by dint of additions and assertions, lightening and softening, being corrected or stretched, finally reveal a sensitive and radiant material: complex colour is the concretisation of a substance which is radiant and intangible, vibrant and alive.
Cristallisations (Crystallisations) 146 x 140 cm
Influenced by the Support-Surface group following discussions with Jean-Pierre Pincemin and in an approach close to Concrete Art, I tried to treat the surface of the painting in a uniform way. I chose to divide it up into non-specific pentagons, a shape that does not allow one to divide up the plane in a regular and even way. Randomness and uncontrollability became the key factors at stake, an aspect that I reinforced by varying the colours whilst following my structuring idea which excluded any subjective or sentimental expression.
Territoires d’Infini (Infinite Territories) 146 x 121 cm
These Territoires d’Infini tell us of a distant land where nothing is known or recognisable. This territory is made up of a matter whose origin is to be found before life came into existence and which contains the potential of life itself. A primordial silt, a magma of particles of light… it is an ocean of intense activity.
Far, far from the world of shapes and appearances, I am striving to invent a raw material, essentially made up of light, where photons, atoms and molecules undertake permutations according to an infinite combinatory logic. This unstable matter, which is simply energy in action, is in perpetual transformation: movement, fluidity, plasticity… a never-ending renewal. No stable shape may reside there.
Fragments of infinity, these paintings have neither up nor down, neither left nor right… They can be hung from any side.
Above and beyond the teeming activity of the coloured motes of dust, there are spaces of silence where the body becomes ineffective and ill-adapted; only our soul can travel there and reach out to the limits of the universe.
Ondes, Profondeur (Waves, Depth) 77 x 73 cm
Light is an energy that comes from the Sun; within this energy, nothing is frozen still. Colours are also forces which act on the psyche.
Visually, the different colours are situated at distinct levels. This series of paintings aims to highlight this phenomenon of gradation and progressivity in energy levels.
Cercles, Pure Lumière, Pures Couleurs (Circles, Pure Light, Pure Colours) 99 x 92 cm
The circle is the primordial shape, it is the beginning, the point of departure, the mother cell, the ONE.
Inside the circle, linen threads describe tightly-wound and slightly raised interlacing designs that catch the light and give body to a turbulence which is both restrained and peaceful.
A white disk against a white background or a strongly stated coloured disk, the discrete play of shadow and light is enough to give rise to a modulation, an energy of vibrations.
“Light is the most subtle state of matter and that which we call matter is but the most condensed form of light. The whole universe is made of this same matter… or this same light… more or less subtle, more or less condensed.” O.M. Aïvanhov
Les Sphères (Spheres) 71 x 65 cm
It was when I thought about the planets of our solar system and how they were formed when cosmic dust was condensed that I decided to call this series of circles Sphères, as my aim was to accumulate and to condense multiple coloured points. Each of the Sphères series of paintings is therefore an aggregate of many touches of colour making up a harmonious whole from a number of heterogeneous elements.
Each circle clearly stands out against a background in soft and more generally bluish tones that is the definition of ambient light, of daylight. The harmony and specific characteristics of each sphere are determined by the relationship between the colours on the inside and those on the outside.
In an attempt to differentiate and to try and qualify them, I have given each sphere the name of an angel from cabalistic tradition; by their very nature, angels have no body, but their presence may be felt thanks to the virtues that they manifest in the subtle world. Colours are a language and their discrete and imponderable energies can awaken in us the expression of immaterial qualities.
Lueurs (Glimmerings) 84 x 80
In Les Lueurs, the circle becomes diffuse like a luminous halo on a neutral surface. I’m not trying to create an illusion, I am searching for colour combinations that will make the variations in light intensity seem natural. I study the harmonies that are unique each time and which, perceived globally, will conjure up the plausible vibration of a point of light.
Totally concentrated on the qualities of the colours, I experience these paintings like listening to silence.
Symétries (Symmetries) Formats variés
In reaction to a period spent studying the informal, I wanted to experiment with its opposite: the rigour of symmetry.
To preserve spontaneity and unpredictability, I put into place a method which guaranteed harmony, whilst simultaneously allowing many possible courses of action: I use pre-designed modules which make it easier to identify the different points. I place constellations of hundreds of points which are arranged symmetrically, then I look for the elliptical curves which will connect them together. In this way, numerous curves come into being, the more remarkable ones will determine master figures to guide my colour work. In this way, I obtain a dynamic complexity of lines and colours. Shapes appear, blossom and then fade away in a tangled web that implies more than it shows.
I associate this series with my work on internalisation obtained through meditation: its symmetrical structure, like a skeleton, facilitates relaxation and equilibrium and ensures a stable base which sets the spirit free, letting it travel through unusual and subtle regions. It is only natural therefore that a vertical image of a body often appears.
Paysages (Landscapes) Formats variés
What do we retain of a landscape we love? A moment that is outside of time, an atmosphere, the light, a silence… No matter where the trees, the rocks, the path or the clouds really are; more than just our eyes it is our whole body that is seeing, feeling, breathing and vibrating. Whilst a photo can only capture the appearance, our being perceives with every sense the expanse before us: the temperature, the density of the air, birds singing, the sounds of crickets and grasshoppers, the perfume of flowers, the scent of the plants, of the soil, the breeze coming up from the valley below, an echo, the rustling of leaves… No picture could treat so many different sensations, so here I have chosen to abandon images, to retain just the shiver of excitement, the invisible connection between all things.
Through gestures and colour, in a deliberate yet subtle calligraphy, I wanted to present the characteristics of the natural elements that make up the landscape: earth, stone, water, vegetation, trees, the sky, clouds… The written form of these different elements suggests a landscape, an energy, the breath of life that flows through and unites each detail, each part of this interiorized vision of nature.
Récits Fabuleux (Fabulous Tales) 102 x 95 cm
In counterpoint to Symétries, where the lines describe a perfectly balanced architecture, the Récits Fabuleux are constructed with random lines which cover the surface of the canvas. These lines are not drawn but created beforehand with a linen filament that is stuck to a thin sheet of paper, then assembled to create an impression of continuity, to form a supple succession of curved lines.
This raised design follows the meanders and the natural tensions of the filament. It represents nothing. It obeys the fluidity, the movement and the entanglement of the curves, their occupation of space. It is matter purified, where actions follow actions and elements converse in a fundamental mobility that lends itself wonderfully to the appearance of a baroque, even whimsical space.
The filaments materialise a sort of energy current to which the colours add their own luminous energy. In this play of density and intensity, the painting becomes a dynamic stage where, in passing, evocations of a distant world come into being, a world of heroes and legends, tales wherein ideals and virtuous impulses are to be found. These ‘virtues’ appear incarnate in the colours themselves.
The organisation of these turbulent universes is founded on the hierarchy of colours and the arrangement of volumes. All that counts is the circulation of subtle forces within the painting and their repercussions on our mental and psychological universe.
Feuillages (Foliage) Formats variés
Who has never been fascinated by the shadows cast by leaves on a sheet of paper, the ground or the façade of a house?
In the Sun’s glare, each tree describes a specific dark outline in which it is sometimes possible to distinguish one variety from another… depending on the shape of the leaves and the way they are disposed. Each tree has its own handwriting, its own signature.
I choose leaves and branches both for the simplicity of the phenomenon and for the drawing’s complexity. I do not worry about shape but about the play of light. I scrutinize the harmony present in the exchanges between colours, between zones of shadow and light.
Each painting proposes a particular quality and intensity of light.
Each painting fixes the light of a unique moment that will never be repeated.