Jean Paul Proix (1926-2022), Puy De Dôme, Oil

Biography:

Born in 1926, Jean-Paul Proix belongs to a generation deeply marked by the great figures of modern art such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Fernand Léger, whose pupil he was.

Coming from a generation more concerned with form, writing and sign than with the subject itself, he was part of an approach in which the role of witness to reality was willingly left to photography. From 1956 onwards, he gradually moved towards non-figuration, developing a body of work with preoccupations close to those of the CoBrA group, until 1969.

However, faced with the limits of a total absence of reference to reality, which could lead to a certain form of repetitive aestheticism, he felt the need to renew his practice. In response, he embarked on a period of hyperrealism, which he explored for several years, punctuated nonetheless by occasional returns to abstraction.

Since 2004, his work has evolved towards a new, freer and more spontaneous form of expression. The artist now favors an approach in which the unconscious, gesture and color emancipate themselves from objective representation, giving rise to a more playful body of work, marked by constant research and renewed surprises.