Sébastien Ardouin Dumazet

Sébastien Ardouin Dumazet is a French artist born in 1972. After obtaining a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Aix-en-Provence in 1996, he decided to devote himself fully to painting.

At twenty, influenced by Primo Levi's book If This Is a Man and by the works of Zoran Mušič, he painted exclusively ghostly figures, as if disembodied from life. His figures resemble old photographic imprints, beings emerging from another era, bearers of another story.

During this period, he worked exclusively with natural pigments, which he mixed directly on his palette. Gradually, flesh tones and vibrant colors became dominant in his work.

The catalyst for this new approach was a collaboration with construction companies, for whom he created communication materials focused on biodiversity. He used worktops and cement bags, which he then mounted onto canvas. The raw appearance of these materials blended with a new artistic exploration, teeming with a multitude of poetic and delicate motifs.

It was also during this period that he began to work exclusively in oil and to incorporate numerous collages, in the manner of a poster artist. His artistic quest consists of uniting two cultures, two eras, two universes within the same work, sometimes even two extremes, in order to find a form of unity.

He draws on the collective unconscious, using symbols borrowed from advertising, fabrics, and stamps: fragments of the past that tell a story into which everyone can project themselves. He also begins learning Japanese and Arabic, which he uses to inscribe words like patterns.

Subsequently, a desire to paint without artifice emerged in him: a figurative painting nourished by the observation of nature. An admirer of Eugène Boudin, he drew inspiration from the emotion that the landscape evoked in him and from his imagination to illuminate and magnify reality.

For his large-format works, he favors canvas, always seeking a diffuse and radiant light, similar to that of the Cotentin peninsula where he has lived for two years. A sensual and ever-changing light, less overwhelming than that of the South where he previously resided.

On other canvases, he uses metallic gold leaf, which he adheres to the surface, then oxidizes before applying colored glazes. This process enriches the nuances, gives the painted surface a new look, and accentuates the luminous effects. His approach allows him to capture the details of a flower and reveal its delicacy, fragility, and the secret beauty that surrounds us.

In his small-format works, he likes to depict life in its simplicity and richness. Like a meditation, these works remind us of the beauty and fragility of life.