Cyrille Borgnet uses raw materials to create his works of art

Born in the Vendée, Cyrille Borgnet Dupont studied at the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Nantes.

Inspired by the city walls that surround him, mortar became his preferred medium, moving initially towards abstraction, before focusing his research on the effects of materials and oxidation, playing on contrasts between materials through the use of oils rich in pigments, choosing in turn lime, copper, iron or cement.

This work leads him to create abstract landscapes in which only strange textures, mineral and dreamlike, oxidised and scratched, can recreate an urban and ethereal space. In an almost monochrome colour, the eye is lost. No buildings, no roads… no obstacles in his imaginary cities.

His taste for relief continues to go hand in hand with a great sensitivity to figuration. And a few years after he moved to Paris, a sad event was a revelation for him: when the most beautiful tree in his street was felled, he made it a point of honour to bring it back to life.

Duality

Since then, day after day, in his studio on large papers or canvases, the trees take root, the mortar becomes vegetal. Under her fingers, a forest is born. Frail birches and majestic oaks meet, olive trees and maritime pines rub shoulders with maples. What they all have in common is a strange strength, a vibrant relief. The raw and the sensitive intertwine to become branches. Delicate leaves seem washed by the wind.

Dressed in black and white, the artist’s work leaves colour to be imagined. Sometimes, however, red, oxides and rust make an appearance in her works, abandoned in gardens, gnawed and crumpled, they are embellished by time. Little by little, nature takes over and reclaims its rights. Man’s drawings are subdued, the better to be reborn, and in the silence trees grow, bearers of hope and resilience.

Cyrille Borgnet Dupont now lives and works in Bordeaux.

“Portrait 14181812”, 2023, cemented acrylic, copper leaf and pigments on 250g crumpled paper, 130x130cm.

The Cement and Treetops exhibition
Between trees and abstractions, Cyrille Borgnet-Dupont illustrates a variety of works on oxidised canvas coated with a thin layer of concrete. Set against a monochrome background and sometimes accompanied by geometric shapes, each tree is unique…

When the artist tries his hand at abstraction, his touch becomes vaporous, free and light, inviting light, pastel colours into his canvas.

Using concrete, Cyrille Borgnet-Dupont combines transparency, roughness and relief in a sophisticated interplay of materials. The concrete is neither brushed nor smoothed. The oxidation caused by natural iron pigments reveals evanescent landscapes.

The artist’s works suggest flaws, accidents and fragility, opening up the eye and encouraging the imagination.

“Peinture 11280407”, 2019, coloured mortar, Indian ink, copper oxide on linen canvas, 146×89cm.

“Portrait of a tree 17400905”, cemented acrylic, copper leaf, pigments on 250g paper, 134x150cm.

(The paper was left outdoors for over a month)

“Portrait d’arbre 14301005”, 2022, cemented acrylic, copper leaf on 250g paper, 93×80 cm.

Cyrille Borgnet paints. He paints trees, trees in cement mortar. Day after day, unlike the world around him, the trees take root, the cement becomes vegetation. In his Bordeaux studio, under his fingers, a forest is born. Frail birches and majestic oaks meet, maritime pines and olive trees stand side by side, while ash trees talk to maples. What they all have in common is a relief, a vibrancy, a very special texture where the rough and the fragile intertwine to become branches, where each brushstroke becomes a delicate leaf brushed by the wind. Often black, white and grey, the artist’s work leaves colour to the imagination. But sometimes, red, oxides and rust make an appearance on the canvas. While the papers are left in the garden, gnawed away, embellished, letting time do its work, nature takes over and reclaims its rights; man’s drawings submit, soon to be reborn. Cyrille Borgnet’s trees are resistance, resilience, they are life. (Karine Dupont).

“Rooted”, 2023, cemented acrylic, pink copper leaf, pigments on natural 250gr paper, 40x30cm

“Portrait d’un chêne15372108”, cemented acrylic, copper leaf on 250g paper, 160x140cm

“Painting 15252405”, 2021, mixed technique on linen canvas (canvas on stretcher), 100x85cm

“Portrait d’arbre17460810”, 2020, coloured mortar, iron oxide on linen canvas (canvas stretcher), 130x97cm

“Painting 12490303”, 2022, mixed technique on linen canvas (canvas stretcher), 192x97cm

When spring comes
If I’m not dead
The flowers will bloom just the same
The trees will be no less green than they were last spring
Reality does not need me

Fernando Pessoa