« Nous, on peut changer de forme à volonté »
Eddy Holt, métamorphe dans le film Wolfen – 1981
« J’affirme avant tout le corps,
ce n’est pas une densité,
mais une forme en mouvement. »
Antonin Artaud – Cahier du retour à Paris – Décembre 1946/Janvier 1947
« La peinture exprime la grande règle des métamorphoses du monde »
Shitao – Les propos sur la peinture du Moine Citrouille-Amère – XVIIème siècle
Arghaël became fascinated by the human body while working as a film director, capturing life through the prism of cameras and editing rooms. In searching for a more personal mode of expression, he turned to charcoal and canvas to explore raw human intimacy. He studied charcoal drawing with live models at the Beaux-Arts University in Paris to develop his skills.
Arghaël’s work questions the mystery of the flesh, frontally probing the unconscious and ultimately giving birth on canvas with the stroke of his hand. His charcoal drawings capture flesh and bone in their bare essence. Drawing his men and women on the walls of what he calls his “mental cave,” or the canvas laying before his eyes like a second skin.
At times, his oversized subjects and their evanescent faces seem to be floating in space, evoking a kind of newfound freedom. Arghaël’s creatures rise to life before us and become metaphors for his creative process. His graphic approach, similar to compositing, allows telluric flashes that are amplified by warm pastels and oil paints. Arghaël uses charcoal to capture flesh in a primitive expression and gives in-temporal elegance to his larger-than-life creations. In 2016, Loo & Lou Gallery exhibited his very first solo show.