Comprehensive explanations on my Art: «PAINTING BEHIND THE SCENE» 

1) Vibrations & Workshop:

Vibrations: It’s my way of giving to see, to paint in successive transparent layers with horizontal lines where each color gives its opinion.

Vibrations between masses that respond to eachother. Vibrations between earth and sky, matter and energy. Vibrations with measure, surprise and contemplative silence. Between portraits and landscapes, memories and visions, I like when simplicity brings peace and truth. Here is a series of 10 videos of 2 minutes each to explain my way of seeing. For you, my wife and my three children, may I show a sane ego here, between transparency and inner sanctum… »

My workshop: It took place on twenty five m², in my eldest son’s former bedroom. It’s a bit tight for the large formats that attract me so much, because they favor being face to face with the painting. Natural light from the north and a neutral white artificial lighting make it possible to judge the colors correctly. So here I am, painting canvas on large rolls. I cut out strips corresponding to the sizes of my frames, which are then stretched and stapled on wooden panels so that I can sometimes work on the floor or sometimes on the wall, upside down, top down or the other way around. Whatever the meaning of the image is, my gaze is abstract and energetic. I like living with the ongoing canvas. I watch it from afar as I pass through the hallway, I watch it closely and touch it, or I watch it at night if I wake up. By dint of feeling it incomplete and imagining what could be done, the focus is slowly but surely coming to light almost without my knowledge. »

2) Pressure & Abandonment :

My paintings occur both -under the pressure- of an expectation of results, to satisfy an exhibition date for example, and -in the abandonment- of dead ends or losses of time. I like to make several paintings at the same time. Alternating from one to the other allows me to optimize drying times and get some perspective on the progress. If one or two preliminary sketches on paper are necessary, the final result of the painting is barely similar to the initial sketch. Let’s say that the sketch is a necessary intention. (In the case of commissioned work, it is obviously different). The unfinished canvases, that is to say one in three or four, are rolled in a corner as an enigma that I am unable to solve at the moment.

I then keep them with the idea of taking them back one day or recycle them by painting directly on the back to save material ». 

« I avoid painting for more than 90 minutes at a time because I end up not feeling what is happening anymore. I use that opportunity to take care of the laundry, the dishes or my chickens: 3 eggs today, nice job ladies, thank you! You feed me as I feed you; no lies, no pathos!" Well, it’s often a messy workshop. A disorder favorable to the appearance of «Ukiyo-E», more commonly called Japanese prints. Sharing this perception, I like the idea that my paintings are also Ukiyo-E, that is to say images of the floating world like reality samples, devoid of center and symmetry, without a beginning nor an end. Or again, ambiguous spacetimes, vibrations. »

3) Tools & Rituals :

I like to modify my brushes, enlarge them by broom handles for example for an «arm lever» effect that allows to stay away from the table; to take a step back in every sense of the word. I especially like the inertia of big oversized brushes. I even added weight to one with a cast iron disc. Thus, heavier and unbalanced, it is a nervous and unpredictable brush, just like a rugby ball. The perfect tool to produce accidents that will force me to let go. Because in painting, to welcome the accident is to welcome life. My next palette consists of a stack of bright white opaque glass plates. I also sometimes paint with a hair dryer to test the mixtures once dried. Sometimes even with a large fan/air blower when there is wash on the ground. Because at the start, my paintings are often giant watercolors. »

« Now, my rituals: Even if the purchased canvas is ready to paint, I like to apply a printing primer, which is a layer of gesso, -most often white- to make the support more absorbent but especially to take possession of it, take its virginity. This primer reminds me of the ritual of the foot bath when I was a masseur. Sort of a first contact to get acquainted with the other, here the new table. A second ritual is to spray myself with toilet water.Stimulating my sense of smell simply stimulates all my other senses. A third ritual is to be barefoot to better feel the ground and my body in the presence in the room. There’s a bit of an autistic routine here. This word, wrongly pejorative, deserves explanation: a routine is a physical landmark like the sunrise or sunset, that legitimizes waking up or falling asleep. Strange to you? Essential for me, a bit like -the church- in the middle of the village. »

4) Music & Action :

Music helps my painting. Depending on the mood of the day, I listen to the song of the Whales to descend in depth, the invasive bagpipe to enter my sweet madness or Malt Marten’s meditative Handpan to help to focus. In the heat of the action, I enlarge my field of vision: where the brush passes, then the whole canvas and finally the canvas in the room with my body inside. Quickly, space-time dissolves. I then enter excitement almost in an altered state of consciousness, between concentration and expansion. This is not the time to –think- but to be. And to quote an old Asian adage: « I think therefore I am no longer ! » The canvas stretched on solid panels and not on hollow frames will receive my blows. Just a few brush strokes. Here I am becoming a boxer: « here, take this in your face ! »

« I have a credo: simplicity proves accuracy ! In other words, if it gets complicated it’s because I’m wrong! My favorite paintings are often those that paint with a certain obviousness. This observation reminds me of a formidable exercise as an art student :Three minute sketch. Left hand for the right-handed and with a pen to not be able to erase anything. Walk or die! Believe me, it is in these worst conditions of creation that came out my most beautiful sketches ! I think that art is a jet of the awakened mind, that there is something sexual here and that it is good to gush in time (…) Bad mood, bad winds or contrary stars; When I’m not well awake-centered, I can feel it: stop your chariot, Luc, go do your paperwork at least you stop wasting the goods! And to remind the ultimate adage … less is more ».

5) The Divine Blue :

« To start with a painting, it is blue in my home that gives the LA or F. To get out of a dubious composition: it is still the most effective blue.

And to animate or close a visual journey: always blue. To succeed in a single color agreement brings me joy, a deep joy. It is both individualistic and altruistic, solitary and supportive because a deeply intentional object comes to life. And all the energy given will be restored. In contrast to the blue that saves, there is the earth of natural shade to calm my colors and allow me to fall back on my feet. A successful painting is also the result of a state of grace. A form of meditation that reminds me of massage experiences where it was no longer me who worked in rhythm on the music but the playlist that synchronized with my masseur gesture. Like the soundtrack of a film composed especially for the image. Divine inversion of roles, divine dissolution of reality. A true little death. Silence, mystery, an angel passes… »

« This mystery of art, I desire, ask and expect. A good painter is probably someone who gets this connection on demand. Sometimes, I even ask God to take the lead: go ahead, it’s up to you! And sometimes He does intervene; we work together. Cool ! I’ve often been told: Aren’t you tired of being alone all day in your workshop? But no, my apparent solitude is perfectly populated: I am not alone, I am in the company of my brushes ! In addition, I also paint with real people -close or famous- that I love and who inhabit me with happiness. Let’s call the soul mates or twin brothers lost, found, idealized.Thus, I paint with Pierre-Jean, with David, with Lorrain, with Guillaume and Birdy. »

6) Dilated Time :

An old Japanese calligraphy Master put on sale a work executed in two minutes. The customer cried: It’s an expensive minute! But the Master replied: You do not buy two minutes but fifty years of practice ! I like the simplicity of this story which explains that buying a work of art is also buying its author with their career (…) Here comes the concrete evaluation of dilated time that represents the realization of a painting at home, starting with a -gestation time- of seven to ten days between the idea, its visualization, and its concrete implementation. Then, a -time of execution- of ideally 3 to 5 days since the initial sketch to the final signature. During these 3 to 5 days, the «advances» are carried out by successive approaches of an hour and a half at the rate of two to four interventions per day between 8AM and 9PM. A painting that lasts more than five days is likely to finish… in the trash! A frequent ending, unfortunately, that happens about once out of three to four. It’s -sad- of course, and no one will ever know; secret garden ! »

« But the dilated time is even more complex than that because my paintings mature at night. Indeed, discouraged at the end of the day, I am often surprised to find them the next morning with a new, more optimistic eye. The insoluble problem of the day before has found a solution. As if a kind double was working without my knowledge. Finally, when the canvas is finished, signed, framed, the dilated time continues: because the canvas remains in the workshop, present in my visual field to continue to learn from it. To learn from it in order to realize … the next canvas ! »

7) Research & Quotes :

Painting brings order to my chaos. Thus, I advance in the unknown by series of trials, errors, corrections-reactions. New trials, new errors, new corrections-reactions. Renewing oneself in art is an expression that annoys me, almost an abuse of language. I would rather seek the opposite, namely, to make and always redo the same picture, larger, more precise, more mature. Originality cannot come from a search for originality but from a conquest of oneself. Canvas after canvas, semester after semester. In fact, I dread painting. Am I gonna make it? As if something serious was being played, as if I was entering the stage in front of a ruthless audience: myself ! My etching «Regard de Buddha» created 20 years ago was my best-seller. Why? I believe that this work performed a function not decorative but contemplative, a kind of new-look crucifix. A mirror-object in short, to fix to the wall to act on a daily basis. May my current paintings assert themselves as «Buddha’s looks». Beauty-goodness-utility to spiritualize the space between switches and central heating pipes. Amen ».

« 3 quotes encourage my creative impulses: -Jean Cocteau: There is no inspiration in art but exhalation! Translation: the work pre-exists in the artist; Its job is to get it out. Period. -Rainer Maria Rilke: A work of art is good when it is born of necessity. It is the nature of its origin that judges it. Translation: « thanks » to the existential dramas before my birth (…). Period. -Carl Gustav Jung: It is not by looking at the light that one becomes luminous but by plunging into its darkness. Translation: my shadows, I searched them for a long time and painfully found them. But we will stay here -at the door- of my secret garden. »

8) Difficulties & Ease :

As an artist, what is difficult for me is the maintenance of a certain balance of life. This means managing money, others, AND the Smartphone; this strange instrument that concentrates -the whole world- in your pocket. The threat to my evolution is there: an unavoidable materiality sometimes stupid and evil. Do not think that abstract art puts you above ground; quite the contrary! To resonate with your peers, you must be well rooted, fully grounded in reality. So the material is spiritual and the geopolitical questions challenge me, question me. So inevitably, I can find myself -stuck- between too much information - true or false - which knocks me out, and a lack of authentic information which makes me feel insecure. And to recall the Buddhist adage: ignorance is the cause of all evil of humanity ! - So… stop or again? »

« As a counterpoint, I have real abilities to create: my 5-years training as a graphic designer (including academic drawing, typography or nude sketches) allows me to format just about anything. It comes by itself like a mother tongue which does not seek its vocabulary. As much as I am blind in my ears, I listen with my eyes. We don't make abstract art because we don't know how to make figurative art. But because we are capable of it and that abstraction comes later to resemble you more. Also understand that the famous -inspiration- is the least of my worries. Every day, ideas for paintings present themselves: in my palette for example where a juxtaposition of colors offers me a unique sense of wonder. To reproduce. Or even while driving my car where the gray-beige of the asphalt suddenly presents a masterpiece for a future composition. To memorize and reproduce. »

9) Safe & Sound :

« The documentary film MATRIX is presented to us as fiction. Here we are: I can no longer fit into the media narrative; it no longer works.

So I live with the Kennedy assassination, the Apollo eleven moon landing, the towers of September eleven, the first lady of France or the safe and effective vaccine (…) Pedocriminality and satanism are well present. Have you ever heard a wrong note in music? If yes, recognize that it is not then a -point of view- or a -judgment-. No, it's much simpler: it hurts your ears ! And the body doesn't lie ! It is said that human beings act either out of love or out of fear and that there is no such thing as third possible motivation. Art cannot be fear; art is not produced in fear. Quite simply because art is Love. Therefore, how can we not let ourselves be defeated by this matrix of manipulative lies, how can we raise our heads and stand up straight, safe and sound ; artist ?! »

« It's time to tell you about my neuronal specificity: The important thing in society is not to be true but to be correct. Being autistic, that is to say wired in 110 volts in a world that operates in 220 is inherently a fault of taste, a displaced place, an incorrection. In pictorial terms; our society functions like a psychologist who continually reproach the deaf... for not listening (...) However, Pokémons, the computer, or the E=MC2 equation are very useful inventions made by autistic people. To prevent interpersonal misunderstandings, I confess here my misery: the rules of the game of life on earth, somewhere, I understand nothing! Anger and emotion are rising here. So in conclusion, let's listen to what Charlie Chaplin said at the end of his career: -The day I truly loved myself, I stopped wanting a different life and I began to see that everything that happened to me contributed perfectly to my personal growth. »

10) Presence & Silence :

« In Art too, we are all clairvoyant about others and ignorant about ourselves. It is not by chance that artists use agents.

The considerations of creation are so contrary to those of sale, that to make ends meet, an interface is desirable. I would like to work with a real gallery owner. It must be great to be supported by a good sales professional who does all the consulting work and promotion. So, I dream of a kind of coach to format my production, guide my image and my marketing. Articulate know-how and how to know. A surfer’s presence who “catches the wave” and “takes the market” like a man takes a woman. To take possession of my dreams and observations, I write them ».

« It's time to talk about my friend Mark Rothko. The word -friend- is a bit informal when it comes to a Master, but it turns out that I think as much about his paintings as I do about the photos of him in his workshop with his cigarette and his stepladder. Like a supernatural presence, an unspeakable, fusional, eternal, universal memory. Mark, I came to see you in Paris, CHRISTMAS twenty twenty three, in the Bois de Boulogne. Strange place for a meeting...I've READ the books about your work but they don't speak to me. And for good reason, I too don't know what to say about you. I have no words; there is none. So it's time to shut up; There ; I suggest we take a minute of silence… »