HUMAN NATURE

In her latest essay LEARNING TO SEE, the point of view of the living (Editions Actes Sud) , Estelle Zhong Mengual, doctor of art history, offers a reflexion on our relationship to nature, to the living, through our history of art.

"The western landscape painting would have [...] helped to crystallize our distanced relationship to the living world, representing it as standing in front of us, outside of us, in the form of a view to be contemplated. The use of linear perspective, recurrent in Western landscape painting, would have reinforced this feeling of human exteriority, by proposing an image that unfolds virtually from the eye of the viewer facing the painting, thus giving it a feeling of mastery of the represented space and thus of domination of nature".

Estelle Zhong Mengual

My "Human Nature" series does not places plants at a distance from humans but inside the faces of my characters.

The question here is the union between several living categories. A living together where relations of domination and exploitation would no longer exist. It is about the conquest of a future of a humanity filled with nature, animality, vegetation, vitality, autonomy and freedom.

Peinture contemporaine – portrait masculin orné de fleurs d’hibiscus dans des tons roses, figure organique et poétique, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – male portrait adorned with hibiscus flowers in pink tones, organic and poetic figure, Human nature series

Garden of Yvoire - Acrylic on canvas - 47,2' X 63'

My series "Human Nature" places the vegetation not at a distance from humans but within the faces of my characters. It is a question of the union of the categories of life. A "living together" where relations of domination and exploitation would no longer exist. It is about the conquest of a future of humanity filled with nature, animality, vegetation, vitality, autonomy and freedom.

Peinture contemporaine – couple enlacé, la tête de la femme reposant sur le torse de l’homme, corps traversés et emplis de fleurs, métaphore de l’abandon et de la tendresse, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – embracing couple, woman’s head resting on man’s chest, bodies filled with flowers, metaphor of surrender and tenderness, Human nature series

Kiku - Acrylic on canvas - 23,6' X 23,6'

Abandonment - Acrylic on canvas - 39,4' X 47,2'

Peinture contemporaine - portrait féminin orné de camélias, visage entre douceur et vitalité, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – Diptych of a Female portrait adorned with camellias, twin figures of softness and vitality, Human nature series

Camélia - Acrylic on canvas - 2 canvas of 23,6' X 31,9'

Peinture contemporaine – portrait féminin empli de fleurs, effigie intime et végétale, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – female portrait filled with flowers, intimate and vegetal effigy, Human nature series

Nina - Acrylic on canvas - 23,6' X 31,9'

Peinture contemporaine – portrait féminin aux tonalités rouges, roses et grises, visage fleuri comme une vague de nature, visage dissimulé dans un autre, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – female portrait in red, pink and grey tones, face blooming like a wave of nature, hidden within another, Human nature series

Moana - Acrylic on canvas - 23,6' X 31,9'

Peinture contemporaine – portrait masculin traversé de végétation, figure héroïque et organique, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – male portrait crossed by vegetation, heroic and organic figure, Human nature series

Ulys - Acrylic on canvas - 47,2' X 47,2'

Peinture contemporaine – portrait féminin orné de roses, effigie florale et sensuelle, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – female portrait adorned with roses, floral and sensual effigy, Human nature series

Rose - Acrylic on canvas - 39,4' X 39,4'

Peinture contemporaine – double portrait féminin orné d’orchidées, figure délicate et charnelle, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – double female portrait adorned with orchids, delicate and carnal figure, Human nature series

Orchis kiss - Acrylic on canvas - 47,2' X 47,2'

Peinture contemporaine – double portrait féminin traversé de fleurs de lotus, effigie méditative et spirituelle, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – double female portrait crossed by lotus flowers, meditative and spiritual effigy, Human nature series

Lotus memories - Acrylic on canvas - 47,2' X 47,2'

Palma - Acrylic on canvas - 47,2' X 47,2'

Peinture contemporaine – double portrait féminin traversé de fleurs de glaïeuls, effigie méditative et spirituelle, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – double female portrait crossed by gladiolus flowers, meditative and spiritual effigy, Human nature series

Gladiolus Femina - Acrylic on canvas - 23,6' X 31,9'

Peinture contemporaine – portrait féminin traversé de coraux, effigie marine et organique, métaphore de la fusion entre corps et nature, série Human nature / Contemporary painting – female portrait crossed by corals, marine and organic effigy, metaphor of fusion between body and nature, Human nature series

Corallium femina - Acrylic on canvas - 39,4' X 47,2'

Artiste peintre contemporain. Artiste peintre émergent. Artiste femme connue. Artiste peintre connu. Artiste connu. Artiste femme contemporaine émergente. Artiste contemporain connu. Artiste contemporaine connue. Artiste peintre célèbre. Artiste femme célèbre.