SAPPHO'S APPARITION, 2025

Michel Tabori  

Michel Tabori, born in Paris in 1956 and raised in New York, is a French-American artist renowned for his innovative visual artistry. He is based in Paris, Marbella and Venice Beach. Before transitioning to the art world, Tabori spent over three decades working globally as a director, producer, writer, and cinematographer. This extensive experience in film and television profoundly influences his current artistic endeavors.

Tabori's work often begins as studies of nature, experienced directly or through reflections of the subject's surroundings. He seeks to create a feeling of motion through nature, in a way precluded by casual, stationary observation.

Tabori's artistic journey reflects a seamless integration of his cinematic background with his passion for visual art, resulting in works that invite viewers to experience nature and motion from a unique perspective. His early work came about while driving through densely wooded, western forests at high speed on a Harley Davidson. Endless configurations of passing multi-shaped greens, reds, oranges, yellows and blues of varying shades and tones, along with constantly changing, misty shadows and rainy reflections merged with intense rays of California sunlight or bright beams of penetrating moonlight. The higher the speed, the more motion there is to see and feel, the more powerful the experience becomes. More recently, he incorporated these same techniques while travelling through the south of France, particularly in Provence. Conveying this in his paintings, they become a representation of the interplay of all these components.

Tabori's artistic journey led him back to Europe five years ago, where he immersed himself in the atmospheric light that inspired the Impressionists. This shift influenced his exploration of erotic themes, drawing inspiration from ancient Greek mythology, Spanish Flamenco, and the French concept of "rêve d'amour". His works are abstract, poetic reactions to personal experiences, delving into notions of love, eroticism, identity, and gender fluidity.