Last December I wanted to offer myself a painting as a Christmas (or New Year’s) gift, so I went into the gallery of Carré d’artistes, which sells paintings by contemporary artists at affordable prices; they propose only original artworks, never copies nor prints, in standardized formats at a fixed price for each size. My sight was attracted by small ones showing girls with strange eyes, painted by Alexandre Lamotte. I chose a 36cm × 36cm watercolor entitled Assoupie (dozing), with a black frame surrounding it. It is now hanging on a wall in my living room, above my computer. With sunny days coming back, I could photograph it without a flash:
Alexandre Lamotte – Assoupie (2015)
Alexandre Lamotte is a French painter born on October 11th, 1976, in La Roche-sur-Yon in the Vendée department bordering the Atlantic Ocean. His biography on Carré d’artistes says:
Alexandre was born and raised in the Vendée region of France. From early childhood, drawing played a vital role in his activities. A creative child, he scribbled and sketched characters straight out of his imagination or inspired from comics.
During adolescence, he was fascinated by supernatural and fairy worlds, feeding on legends and stories and passionate about fantasy worlds. He discovered literature, film and illustration.
Gradually, his drawings became coloured and painting made its appearance in Alexandre’s creations. He decided to make art his career and began art studies, which he quickly left, preferring to teach himself. At the age of 20, he met Jacques Bessonnet, a stone sculptor, who shared his passion and his profession. Alexandre extended his skills and added sculpture to his pictorial creations.
A few years later, in the same studio, he met other artists and embarked on the adventure of the association “Village of Painters”. Each year, from April to October, the village of Vouvant (Vendée) becomes a place for pictorial events, exhibitions and artists’ workshops.
Alexandre works principally with paint in black and white. A game of light and shadow, both poetic and Gothic, appears in his works. He blurs the colours and creates graphic lines, traces of his childhood.
Alexandre is inspired by legends, fables and stories, as well as science fiction. He feeds on topics such as women and children, which are very present in his works.
He seeks a form of escapism through imagination: dreams begin when his spirit is freed.
Many of his paintings evoke dreamlike memories of the magical world of childhood, and this impression is enhanced by his frequent use of grey or foggy backgrounds, as one can see in the following two works from his web gallery for Artistes pour l’Espoir:
Alexandre Lamotte – (work exhibited at Artistes pour l’Espoir) (1)
Alexandre Lamotte – (work exhibited at Artistes pour l’Espoir) (2)
Lamotte painted many women who unmistakably look adult. But as he started to make small format paintings for Carré d’artistes, his female subjects began to change, becoming “petite women” or young girls, and their eyes acquired a strange fairy-like look, as can be seen in a sample of such works on his website. Below I show one of these paintings, currently on sale:
Alexandre Lamotte – Baies Roses (2015)
Here are two samples of “works in progress” from a his blog, one sees how the girls look ever younger:
Alexandre Lamotte – (works in progress)
Alexandre Lamotte – “encres” (works in progress)
Finally I show a picture of the artist at work, from the information leaflet by Carré d’artistes:
(Unknown photographer) – Alexandre Lamotte at work
Biographical information on Alexandre Lamotte (in French) and further samples of his work can be found in the following links:
- Personal website.
- Facebook page.
- Photos on myspace.
- Page at Carré d’artistes.
- Page for Artistes pour l’Espoir — gallery.
- Page for Gallerie Duc d’Aquitaine at Vouvant.
Most images shown here belong to the artist and are taken from his websites. Do not use them publicly without citing their authorship and origin (or, for commercial purposes, without the express permission of the artist).