Remy Rault promotes Cebu art scene in Paris

While the world may remember 1957 as the year Sputnik was launched into space, it is also, and perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the year Rémy Rault was born.

With a passion for design and the arts, the future painter went on to study fine arts at Le Mans, in western France. His true creative period eventually took off in the early 90s with his exposure to urban art – especially graffiti.

Graffiti had a seminal influence in liberating Rault’s artistic expression.

“Do not confuse an inscription on a wall in our city as that intended to provide useful information for the city, a personal message, funny or insulting, and urban painting with real artistic intent,” expressed Rault pertaining to the question on graffiti art being perceived as a form of vandalism.

“The first human beings have left many marks on the walls of their caves.

At the time there were no laws prohibiting it, now the law describes this natural act by the word ‘vandalism’,” he added.

“It is innate to human beings to want to leave a trace, a sign, a testament to their existence and it is one of the common denominators of humanity.”

Over time though, and with more maturity, the elements of urban art – graffiti underlined - helped open up a psychedelic universe combining the darkest and brightest hues and peopled by outlandish characters. Rémy Rault was said to be “born again!”

In fact, his works stood out in recent exhibitions here in Cebu City; defining them as “new figurative free” works mainly using acrylic on canvas.

In his work Carpe Diem, for example, he pointed out that since he was born in 1957, it was a great year for the conquest of space. “This was the year of the first launch of an object made by humans out of Earth’s gravity. I’ve always been fascinated by astronomy, an inexhaustible source of permanent reverie and poetry,” Rault emphasized. 

Such cosmic painting gives a hint of Rault’s rich spiritual connection. “For me, God does not require churches to exist in the human heart. I respect all religions that respect me. Unity is not uniformity.

I believe in the existence of a benevolent higher power that we can call God. This higher power is intimate, positive, and constructive for me because it is a constant source of strength and inexhaustible.” 

Other works depict as to how Rault went through the Parisian underground like a comet, covering the painted walls of Belleville and Menimontant areas (popular and cosmopolitan areas of Paris).

Created in the secret of his workshop are very special and lively paintings which take their origin from urban and trashy visions revisited by fierce humor, this was further learned. So you would see a combination of grimacing characters; hallucinated, flashy and logical colors; as well as labyrinthine decors. There’s also a symbol made of (bar) codes and invented typographies. These elements mark the rhythm of his masterpieces. Each canvas is painted in such fashion that there’s this “kind of emergency as if the artist after his slumber felt for himself a frenetic need to create that nothing will, sort of, interrupt.”

Noticeable during the April 28 free art forum at the Museo Sugbo Art Gallery organized by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. and the Ateneo Art Gallery was the presence of Rault who has intensively promoted the Cebu art scene in Paris.

As a member of the Le 100 Etablissement Culturel, Solidaire (www.lecent.fr) on rue de Charenton in Paris which is an important place in the cultural landscape of France, Rault said that they develop, among other things, a project of cultural exchange. “Of which, I am responsible for the Philippines,” he also said. “The idea is to create permanent homes for visual artists on Philippine soil. A project is already under study in Davao.

I grabbed the opportunity when I visited Paris last month to take 30 artistic works of our group, Cebuano Artists Incorporated, headed by Sonia Yrastorza and Celso Duazo Pepito. I had the honor to introduce to Parisian audience the works and they were very interested and curious about the contemporary Filipino art.”

“I thank the president of the association THE 100, Frederic de Beauvoir, for actively supporting me in this exchange project. He helped me to quickly find a date and place of exposure within the premises of their association,” he further shared. 

Take note how Rault connects to the said group by calling it “our”. This is because of the universality of the direction of the arts. Though he has lived in Cebu since December 15, 2010 and resided previously in Bohol since January 2010, he shares in the insights on the state of the arts in Cebu, the directions they hope it will go, and how they see their roles in the community.

When asked what a Cebuano visual artist can learn from a European like him whose appreciation for the arts is deeply embedded in their culture, Rault replied: “The European artist that I am is not a teacher. I can pass my experience and testimony. I do not want to give a lesson to anyone at all. I share with those who wish. The artist is a witness of his time.”

“I had this chance to travel for the pleasure of meeting different cultures and ways of understanding pictorial art but also music, film, literature, cooking, etcetera. Art is a terrific means of communication. It is universal, it is always constructive. It is very precious and essential to humans; the more we share, the more we are enriched,” he added.

“The message is altruistic and humanist; it is addressed directly to the heart of man. It allows humans to learn to know themselves better and to better know each other. 

It causes enthusiasm, excitement and fun. It is like a child full of life, of energy!”

“I must admit that the Philippines is a country whose reputation is often linked to corruption and extreme poverty; its image is blurred and little known to the French public. Under cover of the exhibition ‘Cultural Confluence in Paris’, CAI image of the Philippines has been very popular and many questions were raised,” he further mentioned.

“I am convinced that we are at the heart of the interest of such an exchange. The exhibit in Paris created a desire to know more about the Philippines and meet the artists and their surroundings. Art is one of the good ways in promoting the beauty of the Philippines. Art is a great way to achieve that goal! 

We are already preparing for the ‘Cultural Confluence’ with CAI in Paris in 2012.”