Jean-Marc Dallanegra

After having been received with honors by the Beaux-Arts School in Paris where he studied for three years before being expelled, Jean-Marc Dallanegra went on a trip in the Sahara desert with a friend, an old marabou and five camels carrying 200 kilos of painting materials. In the desert, he had a revelation.

"Something of a communion with the living earth. It was crazy, after walking for many days in a row, my spirit was literally empty, and I felt - suddenly - the living force of the soil, of the Earth - with capital "E" - under my steps. It was the kind of moment that pilgrims must be seeking in their travels."

Dallanegra wants to share this sense of "belonging" to the Earth to those who have lost their connection to it, and who travel by car, immune to all sensations.

"I want to paint the reality of my time, when men no longer walk, as they have created a second physical shell: their cars. I would like that, when looking at my paintings, people become aware, with joy, of this place, of this time, that they remember that they are alive.

I love to bring a certain vibration to things that seem empty. The journey from one place to another, the road, the ground, the sky. Too often the only thing that seems to matter is the destination, we expected everything from it, everything must happen there. I like to bring into existence the changing landscape of these moments of non-existence."