Immerse yourself in the very plant-based universe of Pierre-Luc Poujol. This Montpellier painter is exhibiting 70 works that he created two years ago at the Paul Valéry museum in Sète until May 26. The exhibition is called “Trees”. An ode to trees and nature.
They are at the heart of the forest and at the heart of the creative inspiration of Pierre-Luc Poujol. The trees of a grove, an undergrowth or a canopy, with their bark and their scars are represented here in all their states.
Influenced by a peasant grandfather and lulled by the spiritual environment of his pastor father, this Montpellier artist is very close to nature. So close, in fact, that she is not only the object of her painting, she is also the tool.
I swapped my brushes for tree branches. The medium that I use today is mainly ash that I collect from charred forests and I paint with tree branches that I take from the forest that surrounds my studio.
Pierre-Luc Poujol artist
The artist uses tree branches as brushes
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© FTV
“I think it’s unusual to take parts of the tree to paint. I’ve never heard of that! It’s amazing to see the result on the web.“, enthuses this visitor to the exhibition.
Pierre-Luc Poujol considers painting as an adventure which pushes him to carry out experiments. The tree here becomes an imprint when this charred trunk from the forest of Saint-Paul-et-Valmalle falls on the canvas. Working flat to leave a mark or to paint the plant is his trademark.
“I have a painting that is very physical. I paint mainly on the ground. I turn around the canvas, sometimes it’s almost a dance. I’m very close, and at the same time I like to step back from where my desire to work on very large formats”, explains the artist.
Pierre-Luc Poujol works in large formats around which he dances.
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© FTV
The public is therefore invited to look at these paintings hung on the walls, suspended vertically and from the ceiling for total immersion.
“When you walk in a forest, you see 180 degrees, the forest is immense, it is big. We smell the forest air, we get inspired. A painting, the bigger it is, the more the imagination opens“, notes this other visitor.
An opening also towards a darker reality when trees become consumer products. Every day, 42 million people are slaughtered. This exhibition also echoes the threats weighing on forests around the world.
Written with Delphine Aldebert.
