alain lequesne

Born in 1942, Alain Lequesne is a self-taught painter who practiced Renée Seilhan’s workshop in Bordeaux for a moment. Curious, he then discovered the works of Buffet, Soulages, de Staël, Soutine. After staying a long time in Africa (he lived in Tunisia and then in Algeria from 1967 to 1982), Alain Lequesne settled  in an old farm in the Landes. He now works there, in his studio. His paintings are enshrined in the lyrical abstraction  movement, and  he exhibits them not only throughout France but also in many books.

It was back in the 1950s when Alain Lequesne discovered jazz music. And since then, this music kept living in him, to the point it invaded its plastic creation. His canvasses offer us to watch jazz scores from Charlie Mingus to Theleonious Monk, through Arshie Sheep. The rythms become  forms, and the harmonics become nuances; the improvisation follows the gesture, and the expression conveys emotion. Colorful rhapsodies were born from the fire of acrylics, of sprays , pastels and inks. Brushes, knifes, clothes, wooden scissors, come pacing the melodic tones. Around his favorite color which is black, Alain Lequesne sets up a climate that reveals all the force and the power of instinct and present time. “Painting is not a picture, but a machine to make people feel emotion.” Could say Le Corbusier. Let us be mesmerized by the volutes and the surges of Alain Lequesne’s paintings. Here are pictures to listen to.