Pierride

After four years of studying at the Beaux-arts, Philippe tried to put painting aside but it quickly regained a central place in his life. Since then, he has been looking for ways to continue his approach and progress. He has obtained the support of companies and collectors who have allowed him to deepen his technique and to confront him with the demands of his clients.

He appropriates Paul Cézanne's approach: "If I think, I am lost". Thus, his years of research have made him understand an essential point: at the moment of work, what happens is out of the field of thought, out of the concept; Philippe has even observed that thinking is a dangerous function for the progression of my painting. If there is thinking, it is on the technical level, it is factual. The work consists of attentive listening. "I don't pursue the image of an idea, it's the painting that imposes a path on me, I just follow it. If I bow, I am then in the pure pleasure of painting, there is no more doubt and when the doubt reappears, I lose the thread that led me "I don't know where". Then it's time to step back and situate and evaluate the finished painting in a larger whole."

Added to this sensitivity, the artist puts into practice G. Braque's famous formula: "I like the emotion that corrects the rule and the rule that corrects the emotion". From another point of view, the artist likes to say that only the technique exists, the "content" or the soul of the painting is not the fact of an intention in the moment. He does not choose a subject, a technical line, they impose themselves. "It is a great freedom in obeying what is being said. It is the result of a long struggle between a personal will and what I will call "deep creativity". This confrontation sharpens and refines the ability to listen. The abandonment is done little by little, it's the fruit of a long process."

The themes explored are vegetation, water, mountains, often seen from above. Philippe Bietry seeks to meet the invisible background that underlies nature; it is an ambitious project that takes the place of a horizon.

Philippe Biétry - oil painting on wood