I have been painting for years, without ever seeking to align my work, from the outset, with any existing movement.
It was only later — by confronting my paintings with outside perspectives and with the history of art — that I was able to name it:
Contemporary Symbolic Realism.

The Contemporary Symbolic Realism I propose rests on three fundamental and inseparable principles:

1. A clear, structured, and stylized figuration, rejecting aesthetic gratuitousness, where technical mastery always serves meaning.
2. An explicit symbolic dimension, in which every element of the scene — character, setting, gesture, light — carries a legible message, rooted in contemporary issues: power, identity, solitude, memory, inner tension, social or technological absurdity, and more. This symbolism is neither esoteric, gratuitous, nor violent by provocation; on the contrary, it aims at understanding, awareness, and the awakening of perception, offering a reading of reality that avoids both shock and visual saturation.
3. A controlled visual tension, ensuring global coherence despite formal diversity, always in service of an ethical and poetic vision of the real.

This approach is not a refuge for all figurative paintings with a message.
It is a demanding discipline, where formal freedom remains framed by a readable visual language, compositional rigor, and an orientation toward inner elevation.

Realism here expresses the grounding in embodied figuration — a constructed scene, a clear human presence — without gratuitous mimicry.

Symbolic affirms that this figuration is guided by an intelligible, universal intention, always connected to the human tensions of our time.

Contemporary means two things: first, that these images speak of our era — its absurdities, its impasses, but also its possibilities; and second, that they do so through a current, refined visual language, aware of the aesthetic codes of our time.

Against the backdrop of a visual world saturated with coded symbols, fragmented discourse, and frantic rhythms, my painting offers a place of stillness — a quiet, slow, and pared-down figuration that allows viewers the time to feel and reflect.

I draw on the codes of classical painting — only to subvert them.
While my work seeks to captivate through beauty, it speaks of something else entirely: It questions the place of the human being in search of meaning, in a world both chaotic and over-regulated, where fear can sever our connection to reality. It offers not an escape, but a form of inspiration — a visual narrative of human resilience, suspended between the ideal of inner balance and the pull of deeper aspirations.

1. Plastic Approach: Symbolic Realism and the Aesthetic of the “Beautiful Decoy”

To attract through beauty and speak of something else, I employ a strategy I call the beautiful decoy — a deliberate aesthetic construct based on a series of formal choices, all aimed at overturning the viewer’s expectations.

• Diverted classical appearance
  The visual language of classical painting — drapery, chiaroscuro, strict framing — acts as a decoy. It is not an end in itself, but a seductive surface, designed to draw in viewers attuned to this aesthetic.
• Frozen theatricality
  Through frontal or vertical compositions, suspended gestures, and visual silence, each canvas becomes a mute stage — a theatre without narrative, where reflection can begin.
• Tension between pictorial past and symbolic present
  The classical facture interacts with contemporary visual codes: suits, objects, and modern postures. This visual shift destabilizes time, challenges reality, and intensifies the inner tension of the scene.
• Intentional visual ambiguity
  The coexistence of technical realism and improbable scenarios deepens the viewer’s uncertainty, creating a space between narrative and allegory, figuration and abstraction.
• Expressive restraint
  Scenic minimalism, reduced decor, even intentional emptiness: this economy of means focuses emotional impact into posture, gaze, and silence — all directing the viewer back to the central subject: the human figure.
• Reinterpreted cultural symbols
  Luxury objects, watches, uniforms — contemporary symbols of power are desacralized and reinserted into symbolic compositions. They serve as triggers for reflection on modern systems of control and value.
• Spiritual and existential dimension
  The entire visual system ultimately invites the viewer to reflect on the human condition:
  How can we remain upright in a constrained and normative world?
  How do we resist without violence?
  How do we dream without losing clarity?

2. Thematic Approach: “Human Balance at the Core of Contemporary Tensions”

At the heart of my work lies a fundamental conviction: Human beings are both constrained and capable of transcendence.
Each series explores one facet of this inner tension — the individual must navigate imposed frameworks (the body, society, the workplace, history, technology) while striving to awaken a resilient inner force.

• Corporate explores the gentle alienation of normative environments — business, society, even the body — and the tensions between intimate identity and collective conformity.
• Underwater expands on this theme within a space of symbolic pressure, where water becomes a metaphor for forced adaptation.
• Memories uses historical sites to evoke the erosion of ideals and the ambiguity of our collective heritage.
• Symbiosis looks to the future, proposing — against the backdrop of growing chaos — a vision of virtuous coexistence between nature, technology, and human consciousness.
• Women at Work embodies the inner strength of women in contemporary life — not as gendered archetypes, but as universal, active, and inspiring figures.

My paintings do not denounce — they seek to inspire.
They do not cultivate fear — not fear of the Other, of change, of social pressure, or of technological drift.
Instead, they invite lucidity, and the acceptance of human systems that are, by nature, imperfect — both virtuous and dangerous.
I paint to remind us that balance is possible, that the human being can find an inner verticality in the face of adversity, and that our deepest aspirations — those of the soul — can unfold even within constraint.