Graduated from the Auguste Renoir School of Art in Paris and after spending 20 years in advertising as an artistic director, Pierre Riollet decided to devote himself exclusively to painting. Following a trip to the United States in 1987, he began work on the theme of New York facades and their cast shadows, inspired by the American hyperrealists.
Always captivated by light, his work takes on a new direction a few years later, on the theme of passages. The effect of contrast between light and shadow induced by this subject is what makes this period specific. The dark frame magnifies the exterior clarity and directs the eye towards a dazzling opening, thus letting the imagination flow towards the light. Beyond the pictorial aspect, it is also the symbolism of the force of transition which is expressed in these passages.
After having long declined all types of backlighting in cafés, urban atmospheres, nocturnal and snowy landscapes, portraits... his painting is now oriented towards reflections, particularly of the sea. Always with the same care given to chromatic accuracy, Pierre is today passionate about the decomposition of light and its interaction. Through the use of touches close to abstraction when the eye zooms in on the details, his paintings – most of them large formats – release a vibratory force of great intensity.
Its journey is a bit like a progressive zoom which, from canvas to canvas, crossing all these passages, advances towards the light.
