Benoit Maire

Since 2012, Benoît Maire has placed clouds at the heart of his work. He uses this motif in various formats by varying the compositions. At first glance, his canvases are simple cloud paintings, but he integrates the motif into a pictorial dynamic that invokes the history of various painting techniques and styles: sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract.

Benoît Maire uses a process that combines chance and mastery to create constellations of clouds of many shapes and colours. He paints on a white background as well as on untreated canvas and the colour is applied in flat areas or using the impasto technique. The canvases also show variations in the brushstrokes; they are sometimes curved or scratched with a blade.

The recurrence of the motif has opened up a field of study in art history, theorised by Hubert Damisch. From the Middle Ages onwards, and mainly in the 19th century, clouds were gradually given new functions in the world of Western painting.

However, Benoît Maire does not seek to represent an abstract phenomenon attesting to a divine existence. His paintings simply reveal the process of their development. In the context of twentieth-century globalisation and virtualisation, clouds have become representative models of the complex conditions of the contemporary environment and now even incorporate the symbol of an information network (the Cloud).

Presentation of the work exhibited in the winery
Acquisition date: December 2017
Exhibited in the bottling plant

Peinture de nuages (Painting of clouds), 2017
Oil on canvas