“No chiaroscuro, no aggressive bright color, I want to catch people's attention with the sweetness of the color palette.”
Fleshy vignettes in sumptuous soft focus.
Ralaivao puts a modern spin on figurative painting traditions. “In classical portraiture, there is a distance between the public and the person represented. I want to erase that distance.” The ultra-close-up, immaculately executed and seamlessly blended paintings punctuate a fleshy palette of pastel hues with tiny, bodily details like moles and blemishes. While thinly layered brushstrokes lend the works a dream-like, almost airbrushed quality, the body language of their subjects is palpably relaxed and off-guard. This is because all of the paintings depict real moments from Ralaivao’s daily li...
Bio
Alexis Ralaivao was born in Rennes, France, in 1991, where he continues to live and work.
Education
With no formal education in art, having initially pursued language and communication studies at the University of Rennes, it was the figurative works of artists such as John Currin, Gerard van Honthorst and Rembrandt that drew Ralaivao's attention to painting.
Did you know?
Much of the artist's oeuvre was created during the lockdown of 2020 in France, the majority of which he spent in the confines of his apartment with his girlfriend.
