Philippe Jacq

The plunge - Philippe Jacq, 21st Century, Contemporary art, Figurative painting

Philippe JACQ , was born in 1971. He lives and works in the South of France. He hold a Bachelor of Arts degree and created a number of experimental films as a self-taught artist. His artwork that received the most attention is undoubtedly the series where he produced the portraits of different artists all over the world with his super 8 camera. The series were mentioned in numerous publications, like «les Cahiers du Cinéma», but also in an anthology of avant-garde and experimental cinema entitled « dure et pure», edited by La Cinémathèque Française. In this impressive gallery of portraits there are for example visual artists : Louise Bourgeois, Jannis Kounellis, Gilbert & George… filmmakers : Aki Kaurismaki, Paul Morrissey, Gérard Malanga and also rock legends like Nick Cave and Patti Smith. He put aside his cameras in 2001 and now entirely focuses on sculpture, painting and textile, a daily, exuberant and solitary routine work. His work has been exhibited regularly in different art galleries and art centers. Some of his artworks are part of public collections, at the Modern Art Museum in Luxembourg (Musée d’Art Moderne), and part of different FRAC centers (Fonds Régionaux d’Art Contemporain) in France.) “I like losing myself in major European capitals, with high immigrant populations, from Paris’ Chinatown to London’s East End or Kreutzberg in Berlin. There are so many places that inspire me. Our societies are multi-ethnic, multi-faith, and my paintings are expression of this. I use codes, and universal symbols, I mix them together, without censorship, without worrying about protagonism and communitarianism. Above all my universe is syncretic. Like a spider, I patiently weave a complex network of forms and words, delimiting pictoral zones, spaces, tracing rhizomes between East and West, Europe, where I live and Africa, where I was born. The wire seals the memory and tightens the arc.” Philippe Jacq “I use several techniques to make my paintings. I often combine painting, sewing and even embroidery. I gather fabrics, papers, any kind of image and pattern that allow me to develop my little universe. A world with animals, insects, mythological characters, industrial machines, temples…” Philippe Jacq