Born in Dijon (France) in 1949, ETIENNE is a self-made painter. He lived in Tunisia until 11 years old where he learnt to appreciate light, sand and earth and where he started drawing and painting.
Thanks to his diploma of doctor of medicine, he has a strong scientific knowledge of the human body which enables him to give his characters a whole range of expressiveness. He worked as an emergency doctor from 1976 to 1985 when he made a complete break to follow a different path and to really devote himself to painting in 1990.
Sand whether inert or fluid, dry or recreational, boundless, distressing or desperate, sand can also reflect summer peacefulness which liquefies into the sea. It is the matter of space and mood
As whether cold or incandescent, gloomy or light, ash is the echo of the past, of crossings, of tomorrow. It is the matter of time, questioning.
These two matters are the basis of all my work, from the processing of the raw canvas to the final touch. They can be used alone or pigmented, melted, thrown, painted, modelled, scraped or washed. They are both the backgrounds and the shapes and most of the hues. The other colours come from powder pigments, acrylic pastes and the classical range of oil paints. The compositions often include strings, scraps of canvas, pieces of wood and metal. According to the context and the watcher, these elements reflect an aspiration, a link, a wound or doubt. |