Hi,
As you’ve probably noticed, texts on this web site are only in French. It might take time before they will be proposed in English as well. Meanwhile, here are rough translations of the main introduction texts : « Who I am » (Welcome page) and « Introducing series » (Collections pages)
« Who I am »
I’m Pascal Vatinel, Visual artist in Paris
Born in France, but a citizen of the world. That’s why I’m frequently on the move. Travel has given me a taste for writing, photography and long solitary hikes.
Words and images. My novels published between 2007 and 2020 share a love of nature and a desire to take my readers on a journey. Then the « Covid crisis » came along, turning everything upside down and prompting new thinking. I then imagined replacing words with images, always to evoke the beauty of nature, and the taste for travel. Since then, I’ve been creating paintings, using a hybrid technique based on photography and drawing, building up original series step by step, like a new kind of travel diary.
« Don’t paint the tiger, become the tiger« . Two countries have had a major influence on my approach to the visual arts: China and Australia, where there is so much to learn. In the Chinese painters’ idea of « double vision », I rediscovered what Edgar Degas so aptly put it: « Art is not what you see, but what you make others see« . This idea is naturally expressed in Aboriginal pictorial art and its Song lines, which sing of the Dreamtime.
G’Day, how’re u going? the cheerful way Australians greet each other. Please feel free to send me a greeting, however brief, and tell me what my paintings have « told » you. I’d be delighted to hear from you, and I’ll be sure to thank you and wish you a… G’Day, G’Day!
« Introducing series »
The creation of my first collections, and consequently the desire to exhibit my work and share my imagination, was essentially built around trees. Contact with them gives me the feeling of being connected to the universe and experiencing its full force.
« Don’t paint a tree, become a tree ». That’s what I’ve been trying to do in my work. Trees are directly linked to nature, harmony and beauty. It’s a source of serenity and, above all, of a different notion of time. The great Austrian writer Rainer-Maria Rilke attests to this when he evokes the process of artistic creation in « Letters to a Young Poet »: « Almost everything that happens is inexpressible, and takes place in a region where words have never trodden. And most inexpressible of all are works of art, those secret beings whose lives never end, and whose lives our own pass by. »
Trees are among these secret beings, those that escape our time. Rielke again: « Here, time is not a measure. One year doesn’t count: ten years are nothing. To be an artist is not to count, it is to grow like the tree that does not press its sap, that confidently resists the strong winds of spring, without fearing that summer may not come. Summer does come. But it only comes for those who know how to wait, as calm and open as if they had eternity ahead of them. Patience is everything ». Man has no such patience, and creation quickly becomes suffering. But the tree doesn’t even think about it, it just has to be, reaching for the sky, rooted in the soil.
As a child, you probably liked to « read » the clouds, to discover the characters hidden in them. Then, over time, this innocent game lost its meaning and its place. The tree, constantly turned towards the sky, never worried about the passage of time, sees and hears everything, especially the air « inhabited by living transparencies, the occult continuation of infinite nature, the vast opening of the possible » (Victor Hugo, « Les travailleurs de la mer »). It transmits this to us in its flesh, its bark, its scars, its deformations and transformations, the extent of its roots and foliage.
My dearest wish is that you discover my paintings today with the same look of innocence and happiness as when you were playing at deciphering the clouds in the sky.
Print info:
My art prints are printed on high-quality canvas, or on thin Alu Dibond plates, which ensure durability and rich colors. They can be produced in a variety of formats. Finishes on Alu Dibond offer a choice of Matte or Gloss, depending on the artwork.
Canvas prints, stretched and stapled, have a solid color on each side, so they can be displayed unframed.
For prints on metal, the most popular type of framing is the « Floating image », obtained with an « American box » frame.
Each print is limited to 30 copies, signed and numbered.
