Sowan
About the artist
Originally from Montpellier (France), where he took part in the emergence of writting in the 90s, Sowan now lives in Valence, France, and for the past ten years has been producing figurative work based on images he gleans from the Internet. His graphic work illustrates the dialogue and back-and-forth he maintains between the digital images he creates or retouches using dedicated tools and software, and the more traditional work of painting he does on walls in public spaces or on canvas in his studio. Sowan's work questions the relationship between the digital image and reality. His figurative works propose a link between the immaterial images omnipresent on our screens and a physical and real retranscription of them, playing with the technique he employs, the choice of subjects he represents and the supports on which he works. Sowan has begun a series of works based on the European Bee-eater, a colorful, discreet and fleeting migratory bird, an endangered species that he has chosen as a recurring subject to illustrate his questioning of the status of images in contemporary society, while also reminding us of the ephemeral nature that a fresco in a public space can have.