About The Piece
Born in 1963 in France Jean-Luc grew up in the advertising world and created his universes through projects in publishing, fashion and art. He says “my first canvases mainly used graphical vocabulary through their colours, their drawings and their conventions. I later felt though that I had to abandon my heritage and replace the line of the pen on the paper by metal wire in the sculpture’s space. I describe myself more as an illustrator rather than a painter or a sculptor, the instrument does not really matter, only the narrative counts. As I developed, nature and animals soon became the main subject of my work. Perceive the animal as an icon. The wires must express movement, energy and vibration but also fragility. The quest of beauty is also central, like instinct, it is inseparable from the animal. My inspiration came from great illustrators such as Bernie Wrightson, to give metal wire the strength and the rhythm of a line. Franz Marc’s expressionism stimulated me to transform reality and give it energy and vibrance to represent emotions. I created my own language, my own grammar and my own calligraphy. The metal wires network allows me to give energy, vibrance and movement to the sculpture to represent emotions. The structure reflects also a kind of fragility which characterizes the animal, especially an endangered species like the Mandrill. The animal beauty is also represented by its shapes and colours; beauty like instinct cannot be separated from the animal.

At least 50% of the proceeds from this sale will support the charitable work of David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) and our ground-based conservation partners across Africa and Asia.