Tornade 2, 2025

Laurent Moulinat  

He began teaching himself drawing and painting around 2010 while simultaneously pursuing university studies in foreign languages. He then studied art history at the Sorbonne (Paris IV). After completing a bachelor's degree and the first year of a master's program, he shifted his focus from research to creative work. He has dedicated himself entirely to his art practice since 2023.
His paintings are shown in exhibitions in Paris and Île-de-France at the contemporary art center l'Orangerie – espace Tourlière in Verrières-le-Buisson (91), or at the gallery l'Atlas in Paris during the exhibition, curated by .
He has been represented by the Virginie Baro Gallery since 2025.

Laurent Moulinat paints landscapes and figures. He develops a silent, contemplative, and mysterious style of painting, where discreet symbols subtly emerge, prompting reflection. It is the result of observations of his daily surroundings and numerous notes taken in photographic form.
His creative process begins with a slow immersion in his surroundings. During regular photo sessions, he returns to the same locations and impulsively captures elements, shapes, and light that inspire him to paint. Whether in scenes with ambiguous lighting or by adjusting his camera settings, he sometimes enjoys pushing the boundaries of his smartphone's algorithm or the chemistry of Polaroid film. At other times, he prefers to embrace realism. From these stages emerge images altered by blur, distortion, grain, and other imperfections. He also finds inspiration in low-quality video screenshots and in art history. By affirming these imperfections on the canvas and accepting the inherent flaws of painting, he attempts to elevate the image to another realm, a reality that is sometimes mysterious.

He feels drawn to landscapes that are almost romantic: the Normandy coast, vast roadside expanses, undergrowth… These landscapes, however, are mostly marked by human activity. A human presence that raises questions. Sometimes it is this presence that illuminates the landscape and replaces natural light, like a river of luminous points on the horizon of a twilight scene. It can be overwhelming, like a shipping container that devours the space, or discreet, like a bulldozer that one can barely discern behind the curtain of the forest.
In these landscapes, the human figure, when not absent, is adrift. It is often presented as a blurred, even spectral silhouette, or reflected in a windowpane. It may be consumed by light, but more rarely in a clear, physical form. For the painter, the representation of movement and reflection becomes a pretext for depicting the feeling of a world where humanity tends to fade away, a reality that eludes us. Generally speaking, his works are marked by a tension between presence and absence. This tension resonates with both certain issues related to new technologies and the fragility of life.