Studio
As an artist, you can't choose a better place to settle than Montparnasse. This neighbourhood used to be the heart of legendary Paris. Painters, sculptors, writers and poets were enthusiastically living in a bohemian and creative way. Picasso, Modigliani, Giacometti, Dali, Hemingway, Joyce, Fitzgerald, and many others used to sit around at the cafe's terraces or in the dancehalls of Montparnasse.
The painter holds, as a definition, a way of expressing himself without words, this is a great silent expression through colourful gestures.
- Jean Paul Donadini -
Jean Paul Donadini settled in this particular neighbourhood in the 90's. Inspiring? Intimidating? For Jean Paul Donadini, the link is as interesting as it is important. By looking through the drawers of the atelier he found prints that happened to be lithographs of Man Ray and the exuberant Salvatore Dali. Ironically, Jean Paul Donadini collaborated with those two geniuses in the 70's. He regularly spent time with them while assisting them in a Parisian lithography workshop.
Mystery, mystical, mystification.
Donadini plays on those three word's infinite deepness.
- Michel Tournier -
Writer
Prix Goncourt (1970) & Grand prix of the french Academy (1976)
Hanging time of derision.
Alchemist of colour.
Donadini tames irony with a poetic drop.
In front of his paintings, motion flees.
Only the magic of beautiful artist touched by grace can remain, eternal, spritual...
- Marie Claude Pietragalla -
French Choreographer & former star ballerina at the National Opera in Paris
Donadini's art always has a touch of humour. It is certainly the most important aspect of his work. "I have a need for renewing myself, I am an observer. In painting I like to play by mixing aesthetics with volume and matter." He believes that he is in a constant exploration, wether it concerns the use of materials or the perpetual search of new projects. The result is a playful work, preceded by intense and accurate research. His studio is full of imagination. The walls and shelves are swarming with inspirational objects: drawings, sketches, postcards, photographs, origami birds from Japan, trinkets and souvenirs collected through his caree, like this birthday made by his dear friend Sempé, the infamous french illustrator... All of these objects have inspirational stories, a memory, a fantasy...
Since 2009 Jean Paul Donadini has started to work on his series Brosse arrêtée. So what does Brosse arrêtée (stopped brushes) represent ? 'I don't like dictated interpretations, therefor I invite everybody to let their imagination flow. For me, personally, the stopped brushes remind me of the artist's gesture, materialised in painting. By leaving the brush on the canvas, I wanted to give a wink to the painter's process of creation, but also as an artist working in his studio, in honour of the pauses the artist takes during the day. A painting is comparable to a construction site, where only the artist gets the final say as to way it's finished. At last I wanted the use this creased canvas to remind us that life is a theatre, when the curtains open the magic happens, full of mirages and illusions.'
