Derive, 2023

César Deslandes  

César Deslandes was born in 1972. He began studying architecture at the Paris-Belleville School. At the same time, he took painting classes at the Beaux-Arts studios in Paris. He spent a decisive year in Rome, where he drew, painted, and further deepened his connection with art.

Back in Paris, he participated in group exhibitions as a painter and worked as a graphic designer. He is now a creative director in the communications sector.

His early works were figurative, and gradually evolved towards abstraction. Color and the dynamism of gesture took precedence over an identifiable subject.

César Deslandes paints in acrylics, creating his own hues using pigments. He often relies on chance to initiate his works, sometimes letting color, through its splashes, blends, and unexpected designs, guide his compositions. It is then only through erasing, covering, and going back that he manages to give form to the "feeling" he wishes to express in each painting.

In an era of multiplying digital images saturating our vision, painting has never been more necessary. It presents us with a material presence while opening up the possibility of a contemplative time and space.

The painter, by encouraging the viewer to lose himself in the abstract in order to better find himself, hopes that his works can restore to the eye a little of its freedom to see.