The French artist Jean Yves Langlois chose a complex technique for the artwork that is housed in the museum’s collection. At the bottom, he depicted an abstract biomorphic composition resembling cells or tissues under a microscope. The artist used gouache, and the circles on the left and right are created using the printing method.
When creating the painting, Langlois made a template on a zinc board. First, he printed it on paper, and then he dabbed random strokes of black paint with his fingers. This technique enabled the artist to create a sense of deliberate spontaneity of the work.
Jean Yves Langlois believed that this “improvisational effect” creates unexpected sculptural effects with coded meaning. With their help, artists reveal the “subconscious impulses of art” — the hidden meanings of their work.
Jean Yves Langlois is a cofounder of “Groupe de Cinqs”, an association of French artists. He was born in 1946 in the French city of Brest. From the very beginning of his creative career, he has deliberately combined several styles in one work and used a variety of materials. One of the most popular methods used by the master is painting over a printed engraving.
Some art historians interpret the role of engraving in Langlois’s work as a return to the origins of art, when primitive people carved images on rocks and stones. The artist himself often says in interviews that carved drawings — the forerunner of engraving — appeared long before painting, in the Paleolithic era, tens of thousands of years ago.
At the same time, Jean-Yves Langlois is interested in modernity and current problems: for example, how culture is influenced by the Internet communication and the media. The artist believes that this is the most important question for the contemporary art.
These two opposing interests — antiquity and modernity — are present in the paintings of Langlois. In his compositions, he combines spontaneous and expressive painting with a controlled printing process. The main theme in the artist’s work is a person in the modern world, amid the endless flow of information on the Internet.
Jean Yves Langlois lives and works in Normandy, in the north of France.
When creating the painting, Langlois made a template on a zinc board. First, he printed it on paper, and then he dabbed random strokes of black paint with his fingers. This technique enabled the artist to create a sense of deliberate spontaneity of the work.
Jean Yves Langlois believed that this “improvisational effect” creates unexpected sculptural effects with coded meaning. With their help, artists reveal the “subconscious impulses of art” — the hidden meanings of their work.
Jean Yves Langlois is a cofounder of “Groupe de Cinqs”, an association of French artists. He was born in 1946 in the French city of Brest. From the very beginning of his creative career, he has deliberately combined several styles in one work and used a variety of materials. One of the most popular methods used by the master is painting over a printed engraving.
Some art historians interpret the role of engraving in Langlois’s work as a return to the origins of art, when primitive people carved images on rocks and stones. The artist himself often says in interviews that carved drawings — the forerunner of engraving — appeared long before painting, in the Paleolithic era, tens of thousands of years ago.
At the same time, Jean-Yves Langlois is interested in modernity and current problems: for example, how culture is influenced by the Internet communication and the media. The artist believes that this is the most important question for the contemporary art.
These two opposing interests — antiquity and modernity — are present in the paintings of Langlois. In his compositions, he combines spontaneous and expressive painting with a controlled printing process. The main theme in the artist’s work is a person in the modern world, amid the endless flow of information on the Internet.
Jean Yves Langlois lives and works in Normandy, in the north of France.
