Stéphane Carel | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

Stéphane has always known that he wanted to devote his life to art. As a teenager he was struck by the painting of the Great Masters during his museum visits; David, Goya, El Greco and Picasso made a lasting impression on him. He drew from a very young age and began painting at 17. \n He had the opportunity to travel and decided to do so for several years. He travelled through Central America: Mexico (Panama, Equateur) then Peru (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia). He was on the road for 2 years in Italy and then Greece, Turkey, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Thailand… These numerous excursions would strongly influence his art.\n After studying graphic design, he worked in different advertising agencies in Paris. He left Paris in 1991 and withdrew to Gers in order to work alone and pursue his passion. There he could finally try sculpture and it was a revelation. He worked all materials, one after the other (wood, plaster, clay, paper, cement, stone...).\n A Latin American touch can be seen in his paintings in his treatment of shapes and colours. For his sculptures however, there is an Asian influence and a spiritual journey that marks his work. \n His paintings are mainly figurative oil works. He works solely with primary colours, and it is the layering that allows him to obtain the material he is seeking. His approach remains fairly traditional: he prefers to work using classical techniques and backgrounds (paper, canvas and stone for sculpture). \n The fundamental question for Stéphane is the place of man in the world, his evolution and the disorder of the modern world. He wishes to express this powerful idea in his work. Human beings are his main source of inspiration: his characters are naive, passive, and fatalistic about the world around them.