© 06/2017
Kérozen
About Kérozen
Back to his roots
The painter Kérozen was born in 1959 in France, in Créteil, near
Paris. He studied drawing in the experimental artistic high school
of Sèvres-Ville d’Avray and graphics at the “Ecole Corvisart” of
Paris. He has lived and worked in Italy from more than 25 years.
In Italy, he has organized and participated in exhibitions in
Rome, Milan, Turin, Venice, Florence, Vinci, Asolo, Forlì and
more recently in Arpino, Colleferro and Isola Liri. Since 2006, he
has returned to his roots and chosen to live in the place where
his Italian grandparents, Gerardo Pellecchia and Maria De
Mambro, came from, establishing his studio in Arpino. The
Ciociaria (the name of the region where he now lives) inspires
him a lot. He likes expressing in his paintings the ‘joie de vivre’
he feels in this environment: street corners of Arpino seen with
whimsy and imagination; coloured and joyful participants of the
“Gonfalone”, the big traditional festival of the summer; animals
or landscapes observed during walks in the countryside around
the city of Cicerone; bread and wine on the table in the olive
grove; olive trees ready for the harvest, colourful butterflies,
sheep in the fields... " I wanted to engrave the sensations which
I felt when I came to this beautiful country, in recognition of a
reality which gives so much to me ", he says about his last
exhibitions in the San Carlo church, the "Sallotino" and the Bar
Sport on the central place of Arpino. The title of his exhibition in
the illustrious hotel “Cavalier d' Arpino” in August 2013, “La gioia
di vivere – La joie de vivre”, summarises very well his artistic
approach - a path which also guides him towards more
philosophical research or religious inspiration.
A pallet of styles
His works are rich in colours and in whimsy. Kérozen likes playing
with forms and colours by painting in a pallet of very different
styles: graphic interpretations of reality or realistic images;
incorporations of abstract forms (“zigouigouis”) or subtle games
with the reflections of gold leaf in his paintings; simple paintings
or compositions of 3, 6 or 9 pieces, or exploration of space with
his “totem poles”. For more than 30 years, Kérozen has
organized numerous personal exhibitions in France, in Italy, in
Switzerland or in Burkina Faso. He has also participated in
various group exhibitions in France, Scotland, Greece, the
Netherlands, Taiwan and in Italy, in particular in the "Museo
Ideale" in Vinci, Tuscany, or the national automobile Museum of
Turin. In France he has founded an association to organize
cultural events. He has also participated in two films about the
Mona Lisa, a major source of inspiration for him.
Kerozen in his studio
Some photos of Kerozen working in his studio :
: The joy of life