The trigger that I was looking for so much, was the will, the courage but also the opportunity to expose myself. It came when I moved to the United States in the mid-2000s. Then everything chained together quickly and easily. My American friends seemed to enjoy my painting. They made it clear and urged me to exhibit. Quickly I was able to set up some solo exhibitions in Miami and share my painting. My painting evolved in parallel, I made larger, more colorful, stronger, more expressive works. Goodbye tasteless painting. At each exhibition, I met new people who still pushed me and gave me the opportunity to do new works and new exhibitions. Word of mouth was starting to work beyond the inner circle of my close friends.
One of the turning points was to exhibit my portraits in the large reception hall of a renowned downtown Miami hotel at a charity gala. This gala was the opportunity for me to meet the Inter Flight Studio gallery which represented my aeronautical paintings for several years and allowed me to exhibit during Art Basel or in the artistic district of Wynnwood. I also diversified my art and my sources of inspiration. Since my first exhibition in the United States, nothing has ever stopped, thus combining my aeronautical painting and my portraits inspired by travel. I gradually exhibited in other states of the United States and participated in certain artistic competitions, several of which selected me.
Back in France in 2010, I quickly followed with a solo exhibition at the House of Latin America in Monaco by exposing myself to an audience that did not know me at all. A good challenge. This dynamic initiated in the United States has continued in particular by going international. Thanks to mail-art, which makes it possible to collectively exhibit works that are exchanged by mail, I have been able to participate in more than 130 exhibitions in more than 40 countries, most often for artistic competitions or to serve as good causes. These exhibitions gave me access to prestigious galleries or museums. Who would have thought that in 14 years of exhibitions I could have been exhibited at the UN in New York to represent France or at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul or Chicago or see my name on a poster next to that of Yoko Ono. From all this I derive no glory but rather the satisfaction of having been able to meet people or do things that I would never have been able to do otherwise.
Since then, I take every opportunity to create and paint when the time allows it, developing ephemeral art with the dead leaves in a forest or with the coins at the bottom of a drawer or with the shampoo of a hotel room. I also do sculpture and the transformation of airplane parts.
I no longer hesitate to create ephemeral exhibitions like here in Shibuya in Tokyo, the largest pedestrian crossing in the world or in the pedestrian streets of Saint Tropez or Toulouse.
Le petit artiste du dimanche des années 2000 plutôt introverti est devenu un boulimique de la création tout en s'amusant. L'exposition compte désormais tout autant pour moi que la création des œuvres. Je sais maintenant qu'une œuvre d'art n'a pas de sens si elle n'est pas partagée ou critiquée, même s'il n'est pas toujours facile de le faire surtout en période de Covid.