Yann Kempen

Yann Kempen is a French artist born in 1963 in Valenciennes. He studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Valenciennes, where he obtained a DNSEP (Diplôme National Supérieur d'Expression Plastique) in 1986.

On the background, his works seem to have a common feature, his childhood memories. He does paintings of well known brands such as Michelin, La Vache qui Rit or Banania using logos of his time.
He is interested as well in the myth of superheroes such as Hulk, Superman, Shadow and Wonderwoman which he depicts on a square canvas, not always represented from head to toe, with angles magnified on purpose to respect the format for the "bubbles" in cartoons and comics. During a trip to Japan, he was very influenced by the culture of Manga which is very famous in the country. He then did numerous portraits of women in a Manga style.

On the form, the background of the canvas is deliberately botched to recall the poor quality of the paper of his original pieces which were a succes in the world of Manga. He likes to work the material to give his portraits more brightness. His paitings are done with acrylics patinated in numerous formats.

Since 1992, he has exhibited his art in numerous exhibitions and galleries, specially in the northern region of Paris and England and more recently in Tour, St Etienne and in Verone, Italy.