Christian Raffin

As a child, Christian discovered art through a middle school teacher, and it was a revelation for him. The young man knew that a love of art would follow him throughout his life. An easel and a box of oil paints as a birthday gift finally convinced him to pursue this path.
His initial training as an engineer initiated him in drawing, design and the laws of perspective. From industrial design, artistic drawing quickly followed.
Between 1982 and 1984, the artist lived in Tunisia, and the city impregnated his colour palette. He practiced traditional photography and tried his hand at painted photographs. In 2004, driven by an irresistible urge to create, he left his job to become a full time artist. His participation in various art fairs and markets, but above all, his contact with the public, encouraged him in his approach. He was convinced.
His artistic style is influenced by various artists, Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch painter, nineteenth-twentieth centuries) and Salvador Dali (Spanish painter, twentieth century). He sees Nicolas de Staël (French painter of Russian origin, twentieth century) as a model.
Christian paints in acrylic and oil, with knife and brush on different media (paper, wood, canvas...). He reinterprets scenes memorised from daily life or his various trips.
Fleeing the technical rigor of his former profession, the artist lets his emotions guide his brush to the essential. He purifies the subject to the point of making it unrecognizable. His purpose is not to represent strict reality, but to transmit a sensation.
Christian lives his art as a way to express himself and to externalize his feelings. Spontaneity is the watchword of his work. He establishes a subtle contrast between the melancholy of the characters and the gaiety of colour, rendering sketched figures and a certain depth in his painting. He creates a hint of mystery through the use of haziness, to make room for the viewer's imagination. His intriguing silhouettes fill the space like fragile puppets in a shadow theatre.