Gilles Miquelis

Gilles Miquelis paints in oils on large canvases that sometimes unfold into diptychs, or on small formats, on tracing paper or Rhodoids. After working on the composition, he paints in swift strokes, constructing his pictures like snapshots. There are various aspects to his painting. One of these consists in compositions in which naked women, isolated in nondescript nature, bask in the sun beside languid animals. As if, owing to present times and a resolutely open-ended culture, the artist had catapulted the "girl next door" into a genre scenery and, in doing so, tinged his paintings with humour and a form of banal eroticism. Another aspect consists in close-up portraits of actresses and children, black-eyed or puffing on cigarettes, often in black and white, and which seem to come straight out of 1950s movies. His often irreverent work can be understood as a joyous reinterpretation of the classic themes of painting. Behind Gilles Miquelis' highly meticulous craftsmanship lies a scathing and quirky portrait of the present time.