Artistic approach
Combining my artistic skills and knowledge in psychology, passionate about art, influenced by several well-known artists, I am today summarizing 35 years of graphic design practice, supported by my art training, a vast general artistic culture, an eye experienced, a certain graphic expertise.
Having always preferred portraits to other artistic subjects, my artistic approach is based on the fragmentation of portraits, precisely mixing graphics, photography and painting but also transcription of emotions.
1. A FAVORITE SUBJECT: THE PORTRAIT
Humans and their emotions are at the center of my artistic approach.
The portrait is a fascinating subject because it allows you to:
• capture the essence of the person
• present human beauty: the uniqueness of each human being is, in fact, a marvel.
• express emotions and feelings
• allow immediate identification: consciously or unconsciously, the spectator's own emotions then come into resonance.
2. VERTICALITY
Verticality is for me stronger than horizontality, man being an integral part of the vertical elements of our planet. It is both concrete through matter and immaterial through emotions.
The vertical lines guide the viewer's gaze while symbolizing reality or the concrete in canvases that offer a multitude of possible readings. The vertical bands also partition; they are the border between reality and imagination, between outside and inside, between the shown and the hidden, between the unveiled and the intimate. Verticality can also be associated with personal growth and evolution. In this perspective, the upward movement symbolizes the surpassing of oneself and the elevation of consciousness.
These strips are like freeze frames, as captured, although partial and reveal hidden facets, fleeting views of the person. We do not see them whole, they are not shown in the foreground, we must act to see and perceive them. They are multiple and unique.
3. VISUAL FRAGMENTATION: BORDER BETWEEN REALITY AND EMOTIONAL INTIMACY
Using techniques such as image fragmentation, vertical lines and juxtapositions of repeating images, I create paintings that question the perception of the viewer. This cognitive disturbance is made of energy between the viewer and the work. It brings an expression of feelings and emotions, both for the viewer himself, who must manage the emotions that reading comprehension provokes in him, but also apprehend the expression of human characteristics such as intimacy. , the internal perplexity of the character represented.
The interaction between the work and the viewer calls on the notion of mirror and projections that can also resonate or question the viewer. The sequenced movement of the vertical lines also recalls the perpetual internal emotional movement between past, present and future (reading from left to right). By using these artistic techniques, I seek to awaken the brain and offer a perceptual visual experience that is first jostled and then balanced.
4. PRIVACY IN ALL ITS FORMS
4.1. THE QUEST FOR AN EXPRESSION OF THE INDICIBLE: THE INTIMACY OF EMOTIONS
Show the unspeakable: Some human experiences are difficult or impossible to express in words. The unspeakable intimacy is said, through the reflections of personalities, by the juxtapositions of fragments of shapes, bodies, faces..., or the vibration of lines that meet and form a whole. The unspeakable of the spectator, like the unspeakable of the character represented, is thus awakened, his emotions are activated.
4.2. THE THEME OF INTIMACY AT THE CENTER OF THE ARTISTIC APPROACH
Intimacy can take different forms, emotional, mental and physical. It is important for establishing and maintaining satisfying relationships, first with oneself but also with others.
Ultimately, intimacy is considered a key element of human relationships. What interests me is based on the interaction between the viewer and the work, the normally hidden intimacy is here unveiled through the facets of the same face that repeats itself in different colors, by transparency, by symmetry...
So :
> I invite the spectator to wonder about the existence of multiple possible readings of the same work.
> the border between reality and illusion: it can be blurred and complex. Our perception of reality is often influenced by factors such as our experiences, our emotions, our beliefs and our expectations. I interrogate reality by revealing the hidden sides of the singularity that constitutes us all.
> singular intimacy: it is a unique and individual relationship characterized by deep understanding and emotional closeness.
Thus, the individual portraits reveal hidden facets of the personality represented, while the paintings representing two people reflect the mixture of two singularities which collide or harmonize in a juxtaposition which reflects the proximity, the resemblance, the difference. ..
5. A READING WITH UNCONTROLLABLE COGNITIVE PHENOMENA: THE PERCEPTIVE INTIMACY OF THE SPECTATOR
My psychology studies allowed me to know “The Gestalt theory”. This psychological and philosophical theory updates the processes of perception and mental representation treating phenomena as global forms rather than as the addition or juxtaposition of simple elements. According to this theory, our brain tries to group all the stimuli into a unified whole, which facilitates learning and the perception of similar objects. It is a perceptual reorganization. The brain must notice the connections between the ideas and perceptions presented, and then attempt to find them.
In this way, it can recognize and identify specific relationships between these ideas and perceptions. The human brain structures things that are close together in a way that makes sense as a whole rather than as individual components. It emphasizes higher-order cognitive processes, heightened problem-solving abilities. Faces are, for example, first recognized by their outline. The brain is then interested in the details of the eyes, nose, mouth...
When reading a portrait, this notion is therefore essential. Gestalt learning theory states that the presentation of information or images containing gaps and shifts is essential for learning. This requires a process of internal review and deliberation. Instead of the image providing a direct answer, the viewer must examine the composition and think about it to get the answers they are looking for. The visual montages of my paintings bring a direct interrogation to human perception. The fragmentation of the faces, the verticality, the partial repetition of certain portions of the same character cause a plot to be resolved in cognitive terms. The reading is first global, then the spectators realize the details constituted by the fragmentation. Their brain attempts to reconstruct, assemble one face, then the other when two faces are juxtaposed.
This research makes the spectator "travel" in the canvas, he scrutinizes the solutions, obtains them and can then appreciate the canvas again as a whole. The moment of confusion, of intrigue is one of the things I look for. This questioning, at the time of all digital, at the time of facial recognition or images in perpetual motion, is interesting in what it provokes in the reader. These canvases are frozen unlike digital. Physically, the works are static, and yet their originality lies in the perceptual visual movements necessary for their reading through the fragmentation of images.
Ultimately, the boundary between reality and shown/hidden often depends on our own perception and our ability to distinguish objective reality from our subjective perceptions. These perceptual questions can provide us with interesting clues about how our brain perceives the world,(.) but it is important to understand that objective reality can often be very different from our perceptions and beliefs. only part of an image, it attempts to create a complete image. The perceptual intimacy of the spectators is then touched even as this reveals to him his emotional functioning by identification with the character represented.
Each spectator will of course see the work and decipher it differently according to their own cognitive and emotional biases.
In this digital world, where selfies have become a norm, we must not forget the deep human nature made up of emotions that are unique to humans. The singularity of each being prevails over the tendency to want to simplify, code and standardize everything. Intimacy, the "in-itself" remains today the only preserved "world", the true source of humanity in each of us. My painting awakens the perceptual mind and criticizes the ability to read the other, not to stop at the appearance of a face but to consider in an encounter interaction that each person remains singular and is not limited to his or her only face. An individual finds his identity in all facets of his personality, those shown and those intimate.