Patrick FAVAREL let himself go on contemporary art

Meeting with the young artist resident of the town.

What is your background?
I grew up in the valley of the Garonne and completed my studies in Aix en Provence. I grew up in the country and the relationship with nature left its mark on my life forever. I did not study art, I am a true self-made artist, just influenced by Japanese martial arts.

Your artistic approach is really unusual, how would you define it?
Instinctive freedom first. My main creative process is to spread black on a white support, that's all. My expression reflects my abstract and contemporary vision of our universe, with an intimate and philosophical approach by working with black ink.

Why black?
Black always creates an emotion. The absence of light and colour is frightening because it suggests the night, the evil, the grief or the death. Paradoxically, I am attracted by this dark light and by the search for the secret meaning of the dark.

What was behind this fascination?
The black “lounge” in the cave of Niaux. The power of the line on the wall brings me back to the origins of art: a dark cave, some manganese oxide, a flame and the work comes to life. Beyond the wrong concept of beauty, art is above all a spiritual event. I am also influenced by the Zen philosophy and its direct and intuitive perception of reality.

Where can we see your creations?
In my workshop. Meanwhile, I'm looking for a place to exhibit in France and abroad, but it seems difficult, perhaps because of my unconventional approach or because of... the ancestral fear of the dark.

Marc Coppée - La Dépêche du Midi 2008