All my life I have been looking for freedom and it is in painting that I have found it.
Thierry, like many self-taught artists, has had a rich and varied life and has always enjoyed exploring other countries and other cultures. He was raised in the rolling countryside of the Gers, worked in Bordeaux and Toulouse before setting his sights on Ireland. His initial plan was to learn enough English to get a job as a long-haul truck driver but instead he found himself owning one of the most popular late-night bars in Dublin! After enjoying a few hectic years there, he felt his native country calling him home and so, with his girlfriend, his cat and all their worldly possessions packed in his aging Renault, he took the ferry back to France. Several years and several moves later, in 2006, he began painting and he hasn't stopped since! Next stop was the Jura mountains with jobs in Geneva and Lausanne but which still gave him the time paint and also enjoy a spot of skiing. Now living in the south of Spain with his wife, his cat (same woman and same cat) and now a wonderful daughter, he runs a Guest house and manages his time between painting, playing in a band, working on the property and generally enjoying life in this beautiful part of Andalucia. In conventional terms, he seems a contradiction - truck driver, jazz lover, rock and roll guitarist, restauranteur, hotelier, painter but that is, in fact, his strength - being able to take from all these different identities to creat a style of painting that is uniquely his own.
Since I started my life as a painter twenty years ago, I have always found myself at the crossroads of three different approaches (abstract, figurative or claiming).
This is largely because I don’t like to repeat myself. Each of these three ways of working fascinates me and opens up infinite possibilities without any shackles.
I always have to find new adventures, that I can get lost in the past, present or future time. I use my painting as an outlet through many subjects, without any limits.
I try to draw realistically from different landscapes, forests, oceans, wide open spaces etc …) up to human emotions, joy, sadness, fear, anger, depression but also selfishness, consumerism as well than violence and pollution.
Basically, I paint as I live and have lived, drawing inspiration from my encounters and my travels
An Artist's Duty Is to Reflect the Times
Nina Simone