Stéphane Cattaneo’s work could be summed up in just two words: “striking colour”. Fanciful landscapes, floral fantasies, lovers and monochrome portraits are just some of the subjects tackled by the artist. Using multiple techniques, he portrays places and kingdoms that exist outside of time.
And so came the love of jazz
Born in Paris in 1970, Stéphane Cattaneo lives and works in France, in the small village of La Roche Bernard in the Morbihan. His interest in art dates back to his childhood when he would eagerly read through the Belgian comic-book magazine Spirou. He dreamt of becoming a famous artist. Later, he discovered painting and as a teenager developed a keen interest in Paul Klee’s work. It was then that he finally decided he wanted to become a famous artist.
As an adult, Cattaneo fell under the spell of jazz, living to the rhythm of Coltrane, Shepp, Dolphy and many other musicians from the free jazz movement who he wished to emulate. Yet his desire was not to become a famous saxophonist. After all, there is only so much one can do in a lifetime and in drawing and painting he had found his preferred methods of expression. From then on, he strove, through the practice of pictorial improvisation, to express emotions using rhythms, motifs and an alphabet with close connections to music.
Solar brushstrokes crowned with music
Today the artist frequently produces large-scale pieces on stage with musicians from England, America and France at events in galleries (Dufay-Bonnet, Paris), concerts (Black Dog Café, Minneapolis) and during festival performances (Festijazz, La Paz). Driven by the surrounding energy and intoxicating rhythm, Stéphane Cattaneo gives himself wholeheartedly to instinctive productions steeped in emotion and the present moment.
