Bolkinn

Bolkinn, born in 1978, is a painter based in Le Havre. He comes from the port city's maritime neighbourhoods and works his paintings the way one works an engraving: destructured colour, forms cut into the support, and what the gallery calls a streak of madness.

The artist sums up his own path and method: "For as long as I can remember I have been passionate about art and painting. I am self-taught, but I like to sharpen my skills at the evening classes of the École des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre — I feel good in that place, I feel I belong there. I often use poplar boards, paper, linen canvas, cardboard as supports… The wood is carved with a gouge to bring out more contrast. I like colours and forms to gain height, as though they were alive. I use acrylic, oil, oil pastel, dry pastel and whatever comes to hand, depending on how I feel at the time."

The body of work documented by the gallery runs from 2021 to 2023 and rests almost entirely on a single protocol: acrylic on wood carved with a gouge, in square formats of 80 × 80, 100 × 100 or 120 × 120 cm, with one horizontal format of 100 × 160 cm. The titles — Qualia, En toute conscience, La molécule bleue, Pandémie, Ancêtres, Les nous — name states of consciousness, figures and collectives in turn.

Bolkinn is represented exclusively by Zone Trois Galerie. Each work is unique and made to commission: most of the images published by the gallery are digital preparatory drawings, with the painting executed afterwards. The works are also available as digigraphies, signed and numbered in editions of ten, printed on 310 gsm fine-art paper at 50 × 50 cm. The gallery has also produced a film about the artist, Bolkinn — Zone Trois Galerie.