The gallery ’17’, during its closing reception, gave us the opportunity to meet an extraordinary artist. Stéphane Renaud, who was himself a gallery owner in Paris, in the Marais district, decided in 2003 to take the plunge and promote his own work and creations. He is both a painter, sculptor, writer, and poet, he insists on pointing out.
After “De Grâce,” a controversial book about the art market in 1998, and “Vanités,” a narrative in 2001 about a dinner with the US ambassador, Stéphane ventured into poetry, producing three collections written in three different places, but heavily influenced by the sea: “Méditerranée” composed in Greece, a country synonymous with poetry, “Douceurs” written in Brazil, lulled by the ocean and the Sugarloaf Mountain, and the third, “Chansons sur mon Rocher” created in Nice. The poet warns us about this last work: “Beware of sensitive souls!”
The sculptor is in love, but with a strong, violent love, and his hearts, fauns, busts, and women with arched or lying bodies are as much poems through the power they exude. The painter creates a connection with the sculpture with a faun. We wonder if the sculpture was a study before the painting was created or vice versa.
Other paintings provide us the answer with bright beach scenes. Tahiti, with vivid, lively colors, a use of shades, and a desire to convey a message. Stéphane gives us the key: “Our society lacks Sun.” This Sun is the truth; Icarus burned his wings on it, a whole metaphor. Art is intuition, this artist, poet, writer, sculptor, and of course, painter explains to us.
The constant in his work is poetry. The music of words, their harmony is found in his bronzes or plasters, and like in beautiful works, his paintings are the illuminations. If Stéphane Renaud has traveled a lot, he has never strayed far from the sea: “Normal for a Breton from Finistère.” Today, he remains faithful to it, residing in Eze-sur-Mer, right at the edge of the shore.
