Pourquoi un artiste ?

When new customers visit my 400 square metre studio, the inevitable question comes up: ‘How many artists do you exhibit?’

I find it difficult to explain to them the reason for this variety.
I'm not looking for myself, but I hate repetition. There are good days and hopeless days, fruitful coincidences, a big, angry stroke that is sometimes brilliant.
It's a form of addiction to always wish to create something new!

My workplace resembles a minefield in which I move between three large easels, the floor only loosely protected by huge cardboard boxes, which in turn are covered with other, smaller artworks still in progress. Tubes of paints, pigments, varnishes, sprays, brushes, rollers and palette knives are scattered around the centre or submerged in large buckets of water.

I am a happy and multitasking artist. Unable to stay in one place, I always work in parallel on several pieces, often in completely different styles.

When looking through my creations, I myself find it difficult to categorise my art. Impressionism, expressionism, modern art, pop art, abstraction ... the definitions and boundaries are sometimes fluid!
And how should I categorise or define my ‘reversible’ canvases?

I like bold colours on large formats where I feel free and anxious at the same time, seeing things within things and finding it hard to stop myself from seeing too much!
I also like to work on small formats, crouching down and letting liquid white or black acrylic paint flow onto canvases with a coloured background or onto old music scores.I also enjoy collages, painting on wood or putting pieces of colourful palettes together.

In addition to painting, I have immersed myself in the fascinating world of upcycling.This involves transforming forgotten treasures into artworks.The materials and ideas are almost endless. Their creation is often complicated and similar to a tetrix.For example, old, often damaged historical mannequins are combined with historical bicycles, rusty tools steeped in history, pieces of wood, damaged furniture and chairs, broken aeroplane parts, fabrics steeped in history, old lamps or power cables with mysterious connections... all combined.

I like to laugh, have a sense of humour and am happy when I throw away my wet paintbrush or hammer and cheer: ‘Fini!’.

It's wonderful to know that you never stop learning and discovering!

déclaration

Whether it's painting or upcycling, it's always difficult to characterise my work as a whole. What's constantly surprising is its versatility. For me, creating is a game, which at times I'd like to be more childlike, an ongoing surprise, a sometimes painful or frustrating process and the generation of serendipity. 
I love mixing techniques, styles and colour harmony, seeing where there's nothing to see or forcing myself to see nothing.  
Impossible to repress, my way of working has become a kind of Sof label. I call it ‘en tous sens’. 
This can be understood in a purely physical way, an artwork that can be read from several angles, perceptual and emotional, bringing several of our senses into play, but it's also a description of my personal way of juggling and combining techniques and subjects.


1969

né à Talence, France

1989 -1993

Business studies with a degree in business management, Paris Dauphine.
Painting and drawing with Prof. R. Leprince, ESAG Penninghen, Paris.
Active guest student at the “Académie des Beaux Arts”, Paris

1987-1989

Study literature and history / Lycée Henri IV und Paris Sorbonne

1994

Déménage en Allemagne et trouve un studio

1996 - 2001

Naissance de mes quatre enfants

1996

Vit et travaille à Krefeld, Allemagne

2016

Ouverture des plus de 400 mètres carrés
Galerie Sof Studio à Krefeld

2022



   Upcycling Art Prize, Berlin

2016 - Mon rêve commence !

A major exhibition at Saarbrücken's Sparkasse enabled me to finally realize my dream by agreeing to finance my new art studio in Krefeld Hüls.
they also finance my latest catalog “Sof... Tout court”


2021

 Grant "Transphere" MKW, NRW
   in collaboration with the French artists:
        the pianist Philippe Mira
       and Vjing Patrice Barry

2022


      Grant Upcycling 1, MKW, NRW
                 

     Grant Upcycling 2, MKW, NRW


        Upcycling Art Prize "Zirkuläre Kunst" Berlin 

2022

Prix de l'art de l'upcycling, Berlin

2016

Sparkasse Saarbrücken : Financing of the catalog “Sof... Tout court”
and the Atelier - Galerie Sof in Krefeld
Gallery Heidefeld, Krefeld
KVNO, Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein

2017-2018

Hessing Foundation, Augsburg
Cologne Cultural Association 30
Askitis, Düsseldorf
Allcura Insurance, Munich and Hamburg
Wunschanwalt, Düsseldorf

2019-2020

Galerie D000, Krefeld
Fondation Hessing, Augsbourg
Il Sorriso, Krefeld
BC GmbH, Willich
Centre de réadaptation Come Back, Willich

2021

Les verres, Krefeld
Camp de spectacle, Willich
BC GmbH, Willich
Kulturcamp ev, Kampf-Lintfort

2022

VKU Forum, Berlin
Winner of the Upcycling Art Prize Circular Art 2022 - exhibition in Berlin and residency in Lübz September 2022 and October 2023

Expositions permanentes

M&A Active, Düsseldorf
Wunschanwalt, Düsseldorf
Allcura Versicherung, München und Hamburg
Villa Medici, Krefeld
Leolux, Krefeld
Rehazentrum Come Back, Willich
Praxis Dr. Dieler, Krefeld

Paintbox, Düsseldorf

 

Kulturcamp ev, Kampf-Lintfort

 

Art et espace 21 eV, Krefeld

 

Lions Club Barbarossa, Düsseldorf

 

2012

Painting catalog "Tête-à-tête en têtes", Cabinet Bizouard, Frankreich

2013

MPK / MPK Collection Tome II

2014

"Artistes contemporains internationaux" Vol VIII, ICA Publishing, New York
"100 Artistes -100 Tuiles", Aix-la-Chapelle

2016

Catalogue "Sof... Tout court!, Sparkasse Sarrebruck

Événements

Art exibition

Music events: Jazz, Harp and french Chanson

Live Events : „Transphere“ Live painting, vijing and improvisation on the piano