Yves GARANDEL

Criticism

Originally from Brittany, Yves Garandel now lives in Nièvre. His passion for art emerged in his childhood, and his already exceptional talent earned him a first exhibition at the age of twelve. The need to express himself through painting prompted him to hone his skills at evening classes in two Parisian schools. Having acquired a perfect mastery of oils and acrylics, he discovered pastels in 1976, a medium to which he adhered with much enthusiasm. Following his discovery of Hans Hartung, he is now experimenting with ink using a very personal graphical method that holds plenty more surprises. Despite his very demanding career, he always feels a craving to paint wherever he goes. His discoveries of the African continent, the Reunion islands and Mauritius in 1966, and some thirty years later Mexico and Cuba, are at the origin of his best creations. For over forty years, he has exhibited almost continuously at various regional and Parisian salons, earning him not only recognition but also many awards and distinctions. Yves Garandel has an innate sense of aesthetics and harmony. Nourished by his discoveries and journeys to flourishing, exotic and untamed natural spaces, his lively imagination has allowed him to “recreate” sublime landscapes that are worthy of his “artist’s dream”. Following a period characterised by Cubism, he adopted Figurative Expressionism in 1987, highlighting lines and colours, and yielding also to a certain temptation for abstraction and at times symbolism when the inspiration takes him. Through this means he expresses his “wildest dreams” as well as his most intimate feelings, letting the rhythm of the music that he loves guide his paintbrush. “I play with music,” he confides. This tireless pioneer-explorer of pictorial possibilities ventures far beyond simple visual perception, on a quest to convey what he calls “the unseen”, and which is born directly from his subconscious. Whether oil, acrylic or pastel, his paintings are powerful and well-structured, and lie somewhere between realism and surrealism. Their underlying drawing, which is always precise, emphasises exaggerated and entirely reinvented shapes while bright, full-bodied and flamboyant colours bring life to these accomplished, stylised compositions. Remarkable for its inventiveness and audacity, Yves Garandel’s artwork is undoubtedly a tribute to nature’s splendour and fertility. Yet the infinite variations that the painter has brought to landscape art resonate with emotion, emotion which he conveys with deep sincerity and inner vision, rendering his works veritable spiritual paintings.

Francine BUNEL-MALRAS, Historian of Art

Exhibitions

Du 20/01/2018 au 04/02/2018 : BONSECOURS : SALON DE PEINTURE, SCULPTURE "L'ART D'AUJOURD'HUI" AU CENTRE CULTUREL LE CASINO

Du 18/04/2015 au 26/04/2015 : GORRON : SALON DE PEINTURES ET SCULPTURES A L'ESPACE CULTURE COLMONT

Du 05/04/2014 au 13/04/2014 : SAINT-DOULCHARD : EXPOSITION YVES GARANDEL, MARGOT, NELLY MADOULET AU DOMAINE DE VARYE

Du 08/03/2014 au 16/03/2014 : CHECY : EXPOSITION YVES GARANDEL A L'ESPACE GEORGE SAND