Jérôme Rapin

Body and Soul

In search of the truth. This truth that cannot be said or written. The one that would make us understand why we live, why we suffer, why we smile at certain misfortunes. Everything is encapsulated in this unique and individual envelope, made of tissue and water. This body on which weighs the responsibility of standing tall and facing life.

A body: a unique vehicle that will have to pass the tests of time. A body which will give love, which will receive the tenderness of magnets, striving to remember it, while forgetting the blows received. A fragile and yet so solid body, containing under this thin skin, an infinity of singularities and contradictions...

Jérôme's paintings as well as his numerous drawings come directly from live model sessions. Strong lines, charcoal bleeding from the black matter and deep marks highlight the features of the bodies. Fragmented bodies, unstructured as if to better grasp the essentials. The lines are juxtaposed to recreate the selective impression recorded by the artist's sensitivity. The reappropriation of the body then involves a reconstruction of the mental image of this amalgam of sensations, through an introspection which explodes and decomposes the conventional representation of bodies, of the living, of the human. Painted, the images are deepened by colors, in order to push this emotional transcription further.

At first glance, the final works appear abstract even though they are deeply figurative. The choice of what is represented is simply disorienting and subjective, a bit like that of memory, which tends to retain only the striking elements of this encounter between the eye and the model. The works thus created are strong, tense and visceral representations of our body through the spectrum of our emotions and our memory.

This new type of representation, between reality and dreamlike, however allows for an identification of the subjects, their fears, their pain but also their energy, and the life that animates them. After having passed the visual shock of the first contact, the observer can then appreciate in more depth the beauty of the pose, the details of the model, the very calm and calm atmosphere of the scene before him. And finally begin a personal reflection on one's own fleshly envelope.

Through his work, Jérôme suggests the beauty and fragility of our own bodies, and shows the very essence of life, in all its splendor.

Jérôme studied Art and Architecture in England, and practiced these two professions in Europe and the West Indies. Since September 2017, he has settled in France, works exclusively in drawing and painting, offers drawing sessions and exhibits in France but also in the USA and the West Indies.