Paul Laurenzi

After performing my National Service, I decided to embark on an artistic path. So it was in 1986 that I settled in the Vaucluse (south of France), where I carried out various small jobs and interventions in advertising and illustration. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Corteggiani, author of comic strips to whom I presented my very first works (watercolour drawings...). The latter consulted them, and warmly encouraged me to continue along this path. I then joined an association of painters and sculptors, which allowed me to participate in various exhibitions in the department. Its president, Mr Philippe Pierron, a professional painter with whom I sympathized, discovering my work, decided to introduce me to a Marseille gallery. Thus, in 1991 my paintings based on female models (oils and acrylics) were visible in a first group exhibition, alongside the works of a renowned guest of honour: Mr Bernard Buffet. Success was there and definitely marked my entry into the world of galleries as a professional painter. Convinced that the study of the great masters was indispensable to me, I immersed myself in the works of Da Vinci, Vermeer, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Klimt, Balthus, Dali, all inexhaustible sources of inspiration. I also explored Greco-Roman mythology, populated by lascivious goddesses surrounded by mischievous fauns. The fantastic universe of Jean Cocteau's film "La Belle et la Bête", opposing the soft feminine sensuality to the Beast, alternately attractive and frightening, left its mark on some of my works. Then, the world of eroticism allowed me to successfully exhibit many works in a Parisian gallery "Les Larmes d'Eros". I met some confirmed artists such as Alex Varenne, Jean- Pierre Ceytaire, Gilles Berquet, Hubert de Lartigues . In addition to women's representation, I have recently embarked on the path of the abstract. I choose the theme of the disintegration of surfaces exposed to bad weather. This allowed me to begin an exploration of my unconscious through the work of matter, allowing me to better appreciate the work of artists such as Tapiès, Burri, Motherwell, Bacon, Niki de St Phalle.