Franck Benoualid is a self-taught painter who started his career as an artist in 1980. Through the years his work went through many phases, influenced by such artists as Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon. Even though his interest in the beginning leaned towards abstract art, Frank’s current work is figurative, exploring the human body, the way it moves and expresses itself. However, his early explorations of abstract art are still discernible in his technique, and the playing with colours and textures. His style is expressive, spontaneous and dynamic, the perspective he works with is often the perspective of a photographer. This dynamism is also reflected in his preference for acrylic paint, even though the final result often resembles oil on canvas. As the artist himself says, he simply does not have the patience for oils.
“I began with the academic nude, according to models and photos. Then, without model, I tried to appropriate the body differently; then I deformed it while keeping its sensual, erotic and vivid side. This mania of the deformation comes from a photographic report: the low-angle shot pleases me a lot; that is that a foreground – legs – are much more prominent than the head. What interests me, it is to know the way the viewers feel, when they are deeply touched and have that desire to possess some of my artworks – it is giving me great satisfaction, time after time.”
Franck Benoualid
