The Artist
Born in France, Rain was first interested in photography before discovering the world of painting. Holder of a master's degree in Political Science, he worked for several years on French national television and developed a certain view of the world.
Sensitive to the interactions between humans and nature, he takes sketchbooks with him when reporting where he captures significant moments by drawing the movements of the living world in an abstract way. During his studies between Ireland and France, he will undertake research on the "Geometry of Emptiness".
It is a question of understanding the relationship to material in space starting from a simple observation: everything that composes us is made only of full and empty.
After traveling through urban and natural landscapes and taking a series of photographs, he produced a set of paintings by developing the concept and purifying the symbols on the canvas. The geometry of emptiness was born.
The series of abstract photographs is published in the book Abstractions. These preparatory works are supports for the works painted later.
"Emptiness offers infinite possibilities for looking at space. It recomposes it, occupies it, divides it, underlines it, erases it or imposes it. Emptiness is sound, conveys immensity, imposes silence, amplifies presence. Emptiness is sensory, transmits cold and heat, humidity and drought, the strength of natural elements and their symbiosis with the artificial. "
Rain, Abstractions.
His research on the urban and natural landscape gives rise to a real attraction in him for rough lines, simple shapes, cubism and abstraction.
During a trip to New York, the style transition will take place, resulting in a series of shots totally detached from a perceptible subject. Forms, sensations, feelings.
Facing the imposing buildings of 5th Avenue, the formats of the painted canvases are getting bigger, some works are becoming gigantic, Rain thinks big, and in monochrome. Emotion goes through color. Blue, white, material. In this world, the human is tiny compared to its architectural giants.
Rain will then make abstract sketches with a singular geometric aesthetic, which he will sublimate in unique acrylic works, with this immediately identifiable signature of balance, the arrangement of volumes on the canvas.
Close to the ocean since his childhood, blue always has an important place in his works. References to the landscapes of the Atlantic whose coastline is constantly changing slip into the painting through movements and curves. Effects of layers of varnish make certain parts of the paintings sparkle when the sunlight crosses the surface of the canvas.
In 2017, he met Michel-Jack Chasseuil, the greatest collector of rare wines and spirits in the world. For 4 years, he will produce a digital work around his cellar and his bottles by asking the question: is exceptional wine a work of art?
In 2020, Rain is launching a series of NFTs that come from video performances made from the flickering of a pool of water built for the occasion in rays of artificial light.
In 2021, he is collaborating on digital projects with fashion designer and artist Jean-Charles de Castelbajac around the question of creative momentum: what drives us to create? A biographical work on the former artistic director of United Colors of Benetton.
In 2022, he is contacted by the Rolls-Royce Enthusiast's Club to participate in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.
In the London palace Grosvernor House, he exhibited in front of more than 3,000 guests his latest creations.
He is interviewed by the official biographer of the royal family, Robert Jobson, who publishes in the art book Strive for Perfection the genesis of Rain's creation.
Rain is based in Bordeaux where he works in his studio.