Bertrand TARDIEU was born in 1969 in Paris, from a long line of famous engravers and painters since the 17th century: - Nicolas-Henry Tardieu 1674-1749 ordinary engraver to King Louis XIV, Jacques-Nicolas Tardieu 1716-1791, Tardieu-Cochin 1765-1830, Bernard Tardieu 1930-2018 (his father) painter engraver and medical illustrator.
He studied at the regional school of fine arts of Cherbourg in 1988 to 1991 as well as at the National School of Fine Arts in Caen from 1991 to 1992. For many years, he has been developing a long reflection on the fragment, a concept that has enabled him to acquire a certain maturity through engraving, lithography and collage.
All these creations are produced on his intaglio press in his workshop in Normandy. A region where he has been able to participate in around ten exhibitions over the past thirty years, the Barfleur autumn fair and the Lower Normandy artists' fair in Caen, among others.
Artistic approach :
The artistic approach suggests a search for meaning, a journey towards a specific objective. In this sense it can be compared to the principle of emergence. The emergence of a set of components that form a whole that goes beyond them. These components that I call Fragments constitute the essence of my approach and have been for nearly 30 years. The fragments themselves are essences. We are emerging entities from our fragments of life, our fragments of stories. My job is to bring out these emerging forms and give them a meaning that then allows their perception. A work without its meaning is as empty as a life without reason for being. My production is mainly done through engraving, lithography and collage. My artistic research is mainly inspired by the work of P. Soulages, in relation to the effects of brilliance of transparency and depth linked to the monochromy of black and blue. The assembly constitutes the base of each work, and the nature of the components differs according to their role to play to allow the emergence of a concept. The concepts relate to themes related to society, existence and the perpetual search for meaning. The major themes addressed throughout these years are essentially illness and death, religions and the analysis of social dynamics within societies. Although the meaning is inseparable from a work, the meaning that I give to it is not inherent to it. Everyone is free to interpret it and the fragments are modular, the links that assemble them are as much physical as philosophical. Thus, the meaning of the fragments and the concept that will emerge from them depend mainly on the observer.
Une dizaine d'expositions réalisées en individuel ces dernières années dont Art NB expo Valognes Artefakt Apei Coutances et Ascension caisse d'épargne Cherbourg ainsi que quelques expositions collectives Salon d'automne de Barfleur Salon des artistes bas-normands Caen
