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Benoit André
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Biography
Benoît André or BENOA as he signs his artworks, is the kind of artist we love at Art Traffik : genuine, spontaneous, free-spirited, candid... and with the artistic potential that reflects the sincerity and energy he puts into his artworks. And if you've ever experienced (which I hope you have) the feeling of a flavor, a smell, a place that forcefully and suddenly takes you back to your childhood memories, then you'll be even more sensitive to BENOA's universe...
Because Benoît ANDRE's art, his works, are the result of this regression that such experiences can generate, stimulating an emotion from the past, a situation, a person, or a memory, just as powerfully. You'll understand why...
As for Benoît's journey, the story he told me, I detected at least one of the three recurring characteristics among all the artists I've met (and proudly promote) : 1) His childhood : he is one of those artists who begins counting his story with "for as long as I can remember, I have always drawn." 2) An artistic education, environment: "During my childhood, I bathed in the atmosphere and smell of oil paints from my father's studio, who was also a painter. I remember those long hours spent with him in his studio, watching him work, but most of all, I remember drawing and painting with him, using whatever materials and tools he would allow me to use." 3) A phase of denial, a dissociation from Art... before it finally caught up with him: Despite his predispositions, the path to painting was not linear. "I even went as far as to dismiss it altogether and stopped all artistic activity, and I took a completely different career path…but only to have it resurface and catch up with me in the long run. I am INCAPABLE of saying why, but at the age of 27, I walked by an art supply store... I went in, bought a canvas, a few paint tubes, and went home to paint. It was a surge of emotions, like a tidal wave." His journey illustrates how much Art is a part of this Artist, how it's rooted in him, and is a guarantee of the sincerity in his art. But it also has a particular significance for him which is key to interpreting his work : the regression that stemmed from the "tidal wave" he felt when creating this first work after years of abstinence and from the distinct smell of oil paints... which emotionally and instantaneously propelled him back to his childhood, the memories of his father's studio, his childhood emotions with all the purity, naivety, and simplicity they represent. |
Painting is for BENOA much more than a means of expression, it is above all about the feelings it stirs in him. It is a kind of trance that projects him into his memories and childhood emotions, a state of regression. There is probably an element of nostalgia as the word often pops up in my conversation with Benoît ANDRE (even if his art remains resolutely positive and joyful, by means of his subjects, colors, and his appetite for substance). It is not surprising that his subjects are also linked to his childhood or more broadly to emotional memories... like using his father's still-life paintings or old photographs taken by his father. Or even "family photos" taken from old family albums, or more recent ones of himself with friends, his family, or his dog. All these memories are intertwined with the emotions he wishes to put into his artworks as they contribute to the pleasure he feels when painting, and to bringing about a state of trance and regression.
It is this state, this pleasure, this emotional regression that leads Benoît ANDRE to go to his studio to “reconnect" with them. He does not paint to "produce" per se, but rather for what painting brings about in him. "I paint when I want and need to... I don't want to get stressed or put pressure on myself about painting. I can go weeks without stepping inside my studio. But when I do, the rest of the world vanishes and I only come out once I'm exhausted and flushed." From this "tidal wave," this regressive pleasure that he felt when he rediscovered the smell of oil paints, the gesture, the feel of the canvas at the age of 27... he kept the creative process as a ritual that leads him to this “letting go" which his works can attest to and which makes them so singular... "I start by sketching on the canvas, laying out the composition, then I take the paint for the outlines, laying out the colors in an academic, classic way. The pleasure is there and the more I paint and smell the oil, the more I feel the pleasure arise, which leads me to “let go" completely. I then add large amounts of paint and substance to spread it out, working it with a knife…all with instinct, desire, impulse, without thought, letting the colors mix together under the knife…such pleasure!" And that is how BENOA's style was born. A love of color, material, impulsive gesture for a painting close to abstraction even if the intention is figurative, with this naïf trait. You have to get close to Benoît ANDRE's artworks to notice the astonishing thickness of the paint... and the drying time ? at least a month! It is not surprising that the artist prefers large formats to give free rein to his gestural, dexterous ability. "I tried, but below 1m20, I no longer feel the pleasure I get from the gesture and its freedom." |
"25% of one of my artworks is the composition I lay out and the first colors and figurative rendering... all meticulous. The other 75% is composed of letting go during which time I no longer respond to anything other than the pleasure I get from the colors and the substance felt under the knife, guided completely by the moment at hand and the emotions sparked. Music accompanies me throughout my creative process... ranging and rising in intensity, from classical to electro music."
And an artwork begun is an artwork completed... Even if it means staying hours on end in front of the canvas... His technique doesn't allow him to do otherwise... He won't paint if he doesn't feel like it, and it's impossible to "touch up" or resume an unfinished painting because all the paint used is too thick. "I've tried, wanting to make changes…but every time the result dissatisfied me even more; the impulse had vanished." All of this makes BENOA's artworks truly unique: his strokes, the colors, the substance, the gesture, and this naïf style, as well as his technique, which is very much his own and what characterizes him (anyone who has ever tried oil painting will concur). It was his father who first discovered Benoît ANDRE's art and who encouraged him. "HIM, congratulating me on my paintings, it deeply moved me." During his very first exhibitions, he sold immediately... the first art fairs he presented his work was the dawn of recognition from art lovers and professionals alike ! That's why we are very proud and delighted to present him to you today, while he is still in his "genesis" and we look forward to seeing him be exhibited in other galleries and have him rise to the " Art Traffik Certified " category. And our "leitmotif" as always : this is an artist to be followed very closely, and we wish him the same ascension to fame as our other talented artists! |
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