Laurent BOSIO

Bonzaï démontable - Welded painted steel /Acier soudé peint - D : 2,90 m avec le socle - © François Fernandez
Welded steel / Acier soudé dim : H : 2m60 with the base / avec le socle © François Fernandez
Bonzaï 2015 - Welded painted steel /Acier soudé peint H : 70 cm - © François Fernandez
Bonzaï 2015 - Welded steel /Acier soudé H : 70 cm © François Fernandez
Racines fantastiques - 2014 - Acrylic on canson paper laid on panel Acrylique sur papier canson marouflé sur bois - dim : 82 x 190 cm - © François Fernandez
Racines fantastiques - 2014 - Acrylic on canson paper laid on panel / Acrylique sur papier canson marouflé sur bois - dim : 82 x 190 cm - © François Fernandez
Racines fantastiques - 2014 - Acrylic on canson paper laid on panel Acrylique sur papier canson marouflé sur bois - dim : 82 x 190 cm - © François Fernande
Étude Racine Calligraphie Acrylic on canvas scroll / Acrylique sur toile kakémono dim : 60 x 200 cm - © François Fernandez

Press Info

 

Laurent Bosio’s artwork can leave no one indifferent. It combines telluric force and liberty of expression. « You love it or you hate it » states the artist.

What is remarkable in his œuvre begun over twenty years ago is the power and sincerity it exudes. From the days of his polychrome and metal monsters to today’s bonsaïs, it is easy to measure the value he attributes to his sculptures and to the profession as a whole.

Equally noteworthy is his constantly mutating imagination via his paintings’ brushwork and use of colour which combine to give birth to his fantastic bestiary.

Without contradiction I can say that the more evident and simple he sees it, the more complex and monumental is the dimension of his work.

Laurent Bosio is among those who allow their imagination to run free of all convention, Proposing for us not without humour his highly personal universe where exaggeration is the rule ; is this not the most ‘niçois’ of traits ? Whether or not his work displeases some is of little concern to him.

He is often quoted as saying that form is merely an evolutionary pretext and that he draws from his environment a transformational force ; the roots of a tree, a rockface, urban architecture, the streets, markets, automobiles and people, all of which he re-mixes to become organic substance : a corpus of work that exceeds the confines of physical and mental space : an œuvre that signals liberty while others speak of beauty and ugliness. This is an artist who aims at visual impact, as one might play darts : the essence being to hit the target with a minimum of shots.

So, if it is the case that Laurent Bosio affirms the truth, it is surely because in his day-to-day life, I recognise his modesty, sincerity and generosity.

Gerard Pettiti

 

Biography

 Laurent Bosio was born in 1964 and lives and works in Nice.
His Fine Art training between 1981 and 1986 combined the Ecole Municipale d’Arts Plastiques and the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs (Villa Arson, Nice).
From his very first exhibitions, his work was situated in the symbolic arenas (bullfighting, football, american football and Formula One) where power, force, man, animal and mechanical are pitted against each other.
His relationship with nature is confirmed by his representations of the mythic mediterranean basin tree, the olive, and specifically, his vision of its roots.
He has a fascination for telluric forces, the cycle of origins (fertility and fecundity). Just like the japanese neabari bonsai linking sky and soil.
The artist gives life to a world populated by imaginary creatures so dear to Borgès which are glimpsed and discovered at the heart of these structures, of these strips of bark, or in the distortion of a length of tree trunk. From the beginning he explores perpetually the playful space where his full-bodied creatures  reveal the duality of contemporary society as a union of man and machine. And an extreme representation of life.

Biographie

 Laurent Bosio est né en 1964, vit et travaille à Nice.
Formation aux Beaux Arts de 1981 à 1986, dont l’École Municipale d’Arts Plastiques et l’École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs (Villa Arson à Nice).
Dés ses premières expositions, son travail s’inscrit dans les cercles symboliques des arènes : tauromachie, football, football américain, Formule 1, où se confrontent force humaine, animale et mécanique.
Son rapport à la nature s’affirme à travers l’arbre mythique du bassin méditerranéen (l’olivier) et en particulier la vision des racines.
Les forces telluriques, le cycle des origines (fertilité – fécondité), tout comme le bonzaï néabari des Japonais (liaison du ciel et de la terre) le fascinent.
Ainsi l’artiste donnera naissance à un monde peuplé de créatures imaginaires – si chères à Borgés – et découvertes au cœur de ses structures, de ces écorces ou dans la distortion d’une amorce de tronc. Depuis il ne cesse d’explorer l’espace onirique où ses créatures généreuses révèlent la dualité de notre société contemporaine : union de l’Homme et de la machine, mutation forcenée de la vie.

 

 

Exhibitions

 

Salon de Mai, Grand Palais/Paris
Art contemporain Niçois/Budapest
Salon Art Jonction+00 hommage à Cocteau/Nice
Monaco Aide et Présence (Palais de la Scala) + Gildo Pastor Center, Monaco
Riva Duemila Accademia Tadini di Lovere + Maremito Arsenal de Venise/Italie
No-Made, Château de Malijay/Jonquières, Vaucluse