Stéphane Gautier is one of those “extraordinary” creators that one comes across off the beaten track of contemporary art, yet who uses a language that is unusual and direct. His work is located on the fine line between design and art, and surprises us with its relevance and visual effectiveness. Beyond its forceful nature, however, Stéphane Gautier’s world opens up spaces for reflection that hold a mirror up to our childhood, with its memories and its universal dimension.
A designer and graphic artist, both by training and trade, Stéphane Gautier designs interiors that have a strong personality; original concepts that are born of his ideas and intuitions. From this practice, which has earned him recognition in the design world, he draws on a unique talent for deciphering symbols and images in his art, and for transforming them into a universal alphabet that everyone can perceive, in a direct and immediate link to the work.
Stéphane Gautier created his first picture at the age of 13, deciding to stick and paint his toys on a canvas. This first provocative gesture and artistic genesis, which, rediscovered years later, arouses emotion and recognition in all those who see the emotional objects that marked their past. There is no point in searching further for the reason behind the attachment that everyone brings to these works: they touch instinctively.
His creations are undoubtedly jubilant and display his expertise as much as his enthusiasm, moving from one medium to another, using all the possibilities of ready-made art to turn them into pictures, sculptures, surrealist or valuable objects… Everything, or almost everything, is shown here.
Understanding only comes as a second phase, however: the art of Stéphane Gautier is permanently shifting. By moving an object from one context to another, re-injecting the stereotypical symbols of childhood into an adult setting, he turns away from all traditional codes of art only to reappropriate them. And it is by way of this ironic distance that this intuitive creator invites us to a deeper consideration of the means of representation, of the effectiveness of advertising and propaganda, and finally of the sacralisation and misappropriation of childhood nostalgia.
