Paul Raynal | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

Originally inspired by the work of French Cubist painter Fernand Léger (nineteenth - twentieth centuries), he then turned to the New Figuration (art movement of the 50s) and the Pop Art culture of the 60s, which strongly influence his artistic approach. Paul isolates an image that is produced in series, pulls it out of its original media context and combines it with other images for a purely narrative purpose. Inspired by consumer society and the urban world, the artist borrows from advertising, cinema, news or iconic cartoon figures. He likes his paintings and collages to be rooted in a certain cultural reality. According to him, this allows the canvas to reach the viewer, to awaken his thinking and mark his memory. Paul uses both sensually unassailable models such as Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, and the contemporary glamorous icons or worshiped images, symbols of modern consumerism. He revisits them using graphics and brings them together in a ""chaotic and jubilant"" composition. The artist then paints on canvas or paper using silkscreen techniques and acrylic paints. With a wide and spontaneous gesture, he begins arranging areas of colour, which then guide the work’s organization. Paul sprinkles his works with fragmented texts, magazine titles or famous slogans with vintage accents, giving his collages the appearance of a ""poetic newspaper front page"". His objective is to succeed in establishing a dialogue between the figurative elements and text so that "" from this colourful chaos is born a free and open narrative path which everyone can find a singular pleasure in reading.""