Jacques Lavigne, Sans titre, papier déchiré et acrylique sur toile, 2003

Jacques Lavigne was born in France in 1937. After a career as a geologist in North Africa, he moved to Paris in 1962. He discovered painting through Jean-Michel Meurice, one of the founders of the Supports-Surfaces group. Fascinated by Simon Hantaï’s folding work, inspired by Matisse’s cut-outs and influenced by Jacques Villeglé’s lacerations, he embarked on a colorful creative process in which tearing became the primary element of construction. In 1977, he left Paris for the Luberon before settling in Antibes. His artistic output then diversified, and in 1995 he resumed his paper collage work with tears already practiced a few years earlier in Paris. Since then, he has held a series of exhibitions across France, and his works, imbued with Mediterranean blues and kinetic reflections, have won over collectors as well as those wishing to adorn their interiors with scintillating decors. Playing on the contrast between structure and color, he composes geometric shapes that create chromatic balances and abstract harmonies. Each canvas is a window onto the horizon and dreams, largely inspired by the landscapes of the French Riviera between Cannes and Monaco. Numerous works by this renowned French Riviera artist.