BIOGRAPHY
Who is Olivier Filleul ?
He studied economy in Paris. His parents were both teachers of fine art. Olivier Filleul grew up in a world of painting and drawing.
He has always been sketching on anything he could find. Caricatures of teachers to amuse his schoolmates, a portrait of a young lady to seduce her. A drawing is worth a thousand words.
His stressful career in estate management in Paris left him with the urge to start again with a more peaceful way of life. Restoring a longhouse near Saint Malo, he does much of the work by himself.
Witnessing the nearby destruction of a row of oak trees has given him the urge to show the fragility of nature.
Painting seems to be the obvious medium for him and nowadays he regularly paints Breton landscapes. He sees them with the eyes of a newcomer who can make a marvelous painting out of an ordinary scene of the Breton countryside.
His respect for nature shows in every piece of work. You cannot but admire his mastering of the gouache medium. His rendering of changing Breton skies are particularly outstanding. “bon sang ne saurait mentir” : good seed gives a good crop !
The world of Olivier Filleul
His cats, his dad, his private life, medieval re-enactments, gouache painting, cooking for his friends, restoring a longhouse, framing his paintings, model cars, tin soldiers, he cares for a menagerie of geese & a crippled gander, as well as for two sheep, add to that a large dose of humour and you’ll get a picture of a very special person called Olivier Filleul.
Marie-Annick Cariou (Ouest-France)
EXHIBITIONS
2012
– Workanowski gallery in Saint Malo (Brittany).
– 11th arts festival of Surzur (Brittany).
– Rohan’s castle in Josselin (Brittany).
– Espace Art Gallery in Brussels (Belgium).
2013
– Came 3rd at 75th arts festival of in Rouen (Normandy).
– 12th arts festival of Surzur (Brittany).
– 23rd art fair Regard sur les Arts in Lamballe (Brittany).
2014
– 43th Marine Exhibition of Paris national museum at palais de Chaillot.
– Tourist Office, chapelle St Yves in Rennes, France.
– Who’s Who Art club international, Etienne de Causans Gallery in Paris.
PRIZES RECEIVED
2016
- January: Prize of the General Council at the 29th Salon les Arts en Fête in Breuillet (91)
- February: Audience Award at the 1st biennale of Arts du Lié in Ploeuc sur Lié (22)
- April:
1st Prize (watercolor/gouache) 22nd Salon du Art du Colombier in Saint-Arnoult-en-Yveline (78)
2nd Prize (other techniques category) at the 2016 International Arts Fair organized by the European Academy of Arts France at the Nesle Gallery in Paris (75)
- October: 1st Prize (watercolor/gouache category) of the 13th Salon d'Art in Saint-Marcel (36)
- November: Appointment as Academician Correspondent Art Section within the Accademia Internazionale GRECI-MARINO Accademia del Verbano
2017
- March: Admitted as a member of the TAYLOR FOUNDATION
- April: Gold medal (painting) at the 63rd Salon des Amis des Arts in Pont-de-cheruy (38)
2018
- February: Guest of honor at the 2nd Biennial of the Arts du Lié in Ploeuc sur Lié (22)
CRITIQUE
Born in 1965 near Paris of parents themselves artists, Ofil grew up in a world that nourished the present-day flowering of his art.
After a time in the world of business, a rather special artist emerged to be discovered, both technically and in his stylistic approach : he works exclusively in gouache which brings together the free flow of watercolours with the stickiness of oils. This is an ever-challenging medium. It involves a constant struggle with shape, contours, and mass while at the same time not overlooking the way water or the branches of trees move.
Drawing is always key to figurative art and it is quite clear that Ofil knows how to draw and to build up a composition. Using this great gift he can delicately master the elements of a landscape and point up light using flat tints and successfully bringing off effects of translucency. Ofil does not give the viewer conventional landscapes, seen over and over again; instead he offers the subtlety of low-angled light, the hacked-off branches of a dying tree or the crumbling hull of a wrecked boat
. Ofil’s Nature is Nature as it really is, wearing away before our unresponsive eyes.
Gouache, a medium that does not lend itself to depicting the run down, is used by the artist to reveal things hidden to the hurried passer-by. The colours grab hold and sink into our feelings, enrobed by a light that seems to peep through from the depths. Blue swims into our eyes, grey marks both reflections in the water and the angry storm, while yellow or beige emphasise the slanting light of a Breton harbour scene.
We quickly realise that there are enigmas we don’t even notice at first sight. It is not about adding lots of superficial appearances but about disclosing the secrets of an overburdened Nature.
Between light and shade, darkness and sunlight, earth and water, water and sky, there rises up a kind of writing with a message, foretelling a future of treeless fields and lifeless seas. The colours seem to sway, separated from the material world. They manage to meld the rigour of what he observes with the reality of his fears. You let yourself be wafted away just like a cloud.
These paintings give the impression of silently watching you. We fall under their spell but are unable to explain them.
This truly is a pictorial body of work that reaches deep inside us.
Bernard Boscher
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