Niala

Born in the Paris region on November 24, 1933 in Chelles (77), Alain Denefle alias Niala by his artist name is a painter who very early emerged in art by a father painter and sculptor.It is therefore quite natural that he turns towards the artistic environment where he studies at the school of fine arts of Paris from 1950-1954. From 1954 he knows his first collective exhibitions in Paris.

The 1970s will be marked by a double rupture, on the one hand by the death of his father in 70 which will push him to leave Paris for a journey throughout France which will take him to Charentes-Maritime (1972) and in Charentes where he will settle permanently in Cognac from 1978, a period when he also decided to leave his name to the work of his father to take that of Niala.

The year 1980 heralded a succession of major events that took place throughout the decade. His personal participation in major Parisian exhibitions and his cultural commitment led him to develop an educational artistic action, associative in many aspects (course workshop, creation of exhibitions, cultural action on Cognac where he notably created a fresco at the Palais des Congrès and creation of the Cognac grape harvest fair, which saw international plastic arts exchanges take place for nearly 20 years).

In 1982, Niala and his partner Jacqueline traveled to Madrid to see Picasso's work "Guernica" which had just returned to Spain. Inspired by this event, he would later make a nod to Picasso in some of his works from the "in Temporalibus" series. 2 years later, he married his partner, a Spanish teacher. Their affinities for Hispanic culture will be the keystone that will give many exchanges with Spain and other countries like Chile.

The end of the year 82 will be marked by the terrible floods, the artist Niala is then in physical and moral reconstruction and will give life to many works that will have as period "the Garden years".

From 2000 and this change of century, this period sounds again like a recognition for the artist who has nourished his imagination from the early years, probably under the influence of the readings of Jules Verne which nourished the dreamlike expeditions of his childhood and which will manifest themselves again through his new works which will be regularly exhibited in a gallery in Nantes, then to participate in the Jules Verne Prize for which he will win the 1st prize. This decade will also be marked by many great trips throughout Southeast Asia which will reveal a spiritual color in harmony with the artist. Over the course of this long period, the artist's work begins a new season which will mutate to assert itself as a "painted writing" which wants to be entirely poetry. These are the 2000s which express themselves.

Considered a painter of the modern primitive trend, Niala's works, which have been exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris and received the gold medal from the Fédération des Beaux Arts, have been included in numerous public and private collections in France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Canada, North America, South America, Japan, Australia, England, Morocco, Congo, Korea, Switzerland, Italy.

A member of the Maison des Artistes, Niala's work is also protected by ADAGP (French society for the collection and distribution of copyright).