Some articles written about my work.
You can find something sounding like Wagner in his canvasses. The artist
expresses his will to soar up high in the sky but goes down suddenly when a storm’s going to break. Of course you always feel free in this ’ mental’ trip. And all his works are balanced and well-structured.
From F. Michely
Everything in his art shows how happy he must be while painting. He’s never tortured or full of useless pride. And, in his works, the sun always appears,
lightening the dark areas and invading them with a relieving chiaroscuro.
From J. Barnerias
He imposes his semi-abstract art which is so close to Nature and the Four Elements. As it is half abstract and half representational, LARTIGAUD’s
art plays with movements and colours.The shapes are balanced but never remain still.
From R. Guinot
Jean-Michel LARTIGAUD obviously makes lyrical references to the atmospheres you can feel in Space or in Iced Lands like the Antarctic.
Then, the painter’s dreams for Escape can be read in the colours he chooses to use in his Tapestries.
From P. Caso
The real Lartigaud isn’t in this dark, anxious quest for Creation but in
these accomplished paintings behind which the artist totally vanishes so
that they could really face their publics and own Destinies. For tomorrow society, all Lartigaud’s work will appear as a real turning - point in the History of Art since it has its own identity. In the Universal mythology it casts a look to the Destiny of Humanity.
From J.-Ch. Varennes
It’s such a wonderful exhibition ! You feel so good when you get out of it ! The artist’s work inspired by Nature is honest, refreshing and poetical.
From P. Rolland
Manhattan
"Manhattan" is a magnificent example of a mid-century modern tapestry--bold, energetic and stunning. The cityscape is dynamic with color and dimension that excite the imagination and stimulate the senses, reflecting the spirit of this city that never sleeps. While the buildings are firmly grounded, they vibrantly reach to the sky. One can even envision the newly erected Twin Towers rising in the background to punctuate the grand scale of these concentrated environs. This masterful abstract composition melds a variety of complex architectural elements into a unified expression of the energy inherent in this most cosmopolitan American city.
Zoe Livingston-Poole
Manhattan, 1973, tapisserie d’Aubusson
Lartigaud firmly leads his own inspiration. Indeed , for a painter as for a poet, it would be nothing to create emotions without controlling them in order to make them as convincing as a real language.
From Suzaru
In fact, it seems Lartigaud doesn’t only use such hard technics as much as
possible, but he even changes difficulty into a real creating process.
From J.-C. Martin
The one who looks at Jean-Michel Lartigaud’s, Tapestries, serigraphs or paintings knows the artist is opening for him the gates leading to a strange, familiar universe. As Apollinaire said, he gives a way to :
" ...de vastes et d ’étranges domaines
Où le mystère en fleurs s’offre à qui veut le cueillir
Il y a là des feux nouveaux des couleurs jamais vues
Mille phantasmes impondérables
Auxquels il faut donner de la réalité. "
As a traveller filled with wonder, the art lover will never forget what he saw once. His dream will be fulfilled and he’ll say like Arthur Rimbaud :
" J’ai rêvé la nuit verte aux neiges éblouies
Baisers montant aux yeux des mers avec lenteurs,
La circulation des sèves inouïes
Et l’éveil jaune et bleu des phosphores chanteurs. "
From R.-C. Desrichard
Perspectives
Jean-Michel Lartigaud is an artist of many dimensions.
Versatile and working across a wide range of media from tapestry to painting, etching and mixed media works, his collages of the 1980’s are powerful and highly expressive.
The series of work entitled "Perspectives", so aptly named, are poetic and vivid low relief pieces enriched by the use of textural elements. Lartigaud subtly employs wood, metal and ceramic, to build up these rich textures. He also uses thickly applied impasto, suggesting ancient walls. The surfaces are tinted with rich colours and traces of gold, reminiscent of relics from Byzantium. These collages with their rectangles within rectangles have powerful structural motifs which are enhanced by Lartigaud’s spontaneity of approach. The addition of stencilled text (Lartigaud’s name) adds a mystique to the works. Partly obliterated the letters are there, but not there, emerging like ancient signs that have been partly washed away by the forces of nature over time.
Lartigaud is a lyrical and subtle colourist, but in producing his "Perspectives" is facility for rich texture and strong graphic form has come to the fore.
These works have impact, sensuality and life.
Madeleine Winch
Bas-relief 29, 2009, techniques mixtes.
J.M. Lartigaud is not a painter : he is a sculptor, a sculptor of light.
His paintings are a presence. Violent or calming, they give out the
alarming sensation of coming from the imagination of those who look at
them. Are they cosmic visions, echoes of the Big Bang, the moment when the
universe was created, engraved in the depths of the human being ? Is it
because J.M. Lartigaud takes his inspiration from all kinds of painting,
regardless of genre or era, that they captivate us in a timeless charm.
That’s the fascinating enigma of this painting which, beyond modes and
concepts, finds its equilibrium between harmony and chaos.
J.M. Lartigaud is, like all artists, a technician. But what he creates goes
beyond the virtuosity of the artwork. He seizes on a dreamlike world where
the contrasts would be tangible, where the creation won’t be hindered by
the subject. A paradoxical and coherent universe as only artists can
imagine it. From this dream, he leaves a trace to share with others. That’s
the work, the duty, of a painter. So canvas, paper, walls, the mount
doesn’t matter provided the image exists.
J.M. Lartigaud’s paintings, then, are not abstract. On the contrary, they
are an accurate reproduction of the artist’s soul… destined for those who
love colour and light.
Let’s get filled with the universe they contain.
J. Ediard