I was born on March 7, 1964, in Aix-en-Provence, France. When I was a child, I looked enthusiastically at my father’s paintings. He was my hero. He did oriental figurative paintings. Then, around the age of nine or ten, with my school, we went to visit the Cézanne atelier in Aix-en-Provence. I was fascinated by this outing. I remember my admiration but also my embarrassment. I felt like I was going home. As if he had gone out and we were going home without his knowledge.
Later at age 13, in high school, I had a friend named Martin Masson. We were friends, but he didn’t tell me that his grandfather was a painter. He invited me to go to his grandfather’s house.
It was hot and he had a swimming pool. When I arrived, André Masson was painting in his garden. I watched what he was doing, fascinated. Then his grandson Martin showed me the paintings they had in the house. I found these paintings fascinating but also strange. I think it was the catalyst for my questioning of art.
At the age of twenty, I enrolled in the “beaux arts” of Aix-en-Provence. I did two years of training. Then in 87, when I was twenty-three, I started my photography business, another of my passions. Then it seems that we always come back to his first loves. I went back to painting in 2002.
I needed to learn, and I think my learning was real at the time. I began to make reproductions of the great impressionist masters. I needed to learn the blending of colors with oil, learn texture, color shadows, and framing. I started with Édouard Manet. Then I made reproductions of Renoir, Pissarro, Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne.
Here are some photographs of the reproductions:
In 2007, I painted my own paintings. I made paintings that were very close to photography. I made very classic still-life paintings.
In 2010 I met a painter Jérôme Fonchain. We talked about art. We introduced each other to painters. We had a very constructive exchange for me. Then my work evolved. I thought that integrating small squares like “pixels” could give interesting things. The advantage of this technique is that we can go from figurative to abstract painting.
My desire is to continue in this way. We can create scenes of life but also very decorative paintings. My personal taste is to show scenes that remind visitors of something. And if possible make more “political” paintings. For example, the idea I currently have is to make a painting that denounces the violence that certain men do to women.
ALAGNA Franck
3 bis, rue des aires
13840 Rognes
France
☎ +33(0)679525487
alagnafranck57@gmail.com
https://www.alagnafranck.fr
ALAGNA Franck (@franckygoes1)