FLUOMAN THE NOMAD PAINTER
Fluoman was born in 1952; his early works took their inspirations in the Post-impressionnist movement- Paul Gauguin, Toulouse Lautrec- or in modern artists, such as Yves Klein (« for the excessive violence of his works ») or Francis Bacon on his works on colours and the pictorial space.
In the 70s, Fluoman discovered reggae music and the Rasta movement, and since then devoted most of his works to them. His unclettered paintings, tinted with music, are a historic expression of the international emergence of this movement.
After Bob Marley's death, which triggered the end of the golden age of reggea in France, Fluoman looked for inspirations in Africa, where he spent his childhood.
His desire to fight against the apartheid, and to emphasize the African culture- a collaboration with Thomas Sankara, a symbol of the Panafricanism movement- are shown in his work on Africa.
« As long as the apartheid is not over, I will continue to work on it » (extract from an interview of Fluoman in August 2005)
In his « African work », Fluoman has two sides: a painter of African landscapes and everyday life; and a violent lampoonist against every political racial segregations.
In the 90s, Fluoman concentrated on Ethiopia and created a new simple graphic design. This design is naive or extremely meticulous, and based upon a personal vision on Ethiopian Coptic art.
It was the time when he decided to dedicated his life to his art and moved to Marseille in the 2000s. Marseilles, as a melting pot, is an inspiration for the artist. He made a set of paintings on Marseilles seashores that every inhabitants would easily know.
Fluoman painted 600 paintings with fluorescent acrylic: each painting reacts to ultraviolet light which shows invisible contrast to the normal light.
His artistic name comes from this capacity to enlight his paintings with fluorescent.
This innovative concept to enlight paintings gives life to them, behind a band on stage or at an exhibition.
However, this fluorescent technique is quite old: it appeared in China during the 11th century and was found again by a shoemaker of the 17th century. It is easy and natural to find these fluorescent pigments and the black light to show them.
« When I see this reaction, immediatly I understand: 1- how to use the fluorescent colours. 2- With it I can do light shows and 3- I understand that I've got work for all my life. » (Extract of an interview of Fluoman, August 2005)
Thus, putting ultraviolet lights in front his paintings let the existence of a mass of different versions for one painting. It is like reggae music in which there are a lot of different versions of a same instrumental with different singers or arrangements.
By his work and his actions, Fluoman had the will to make his art available to most people.
JAH LIVE !
