French artist Patrice Elmer uses an architectural software program to create otherworldly 3D digital images. View more of his portfolio by visiting his website.
Rigor and sensitivity have accompanied me ever since my initial creative expression, a collection of poems written in 1968-1969. At the same time, I encountered painters, sculptors, and works exhibited in galleries or museums. These aroused in me the desire to express myself as a visual artist.
My creativity begins with the shaping of an object. It is birthed as a representation in my mind, in my imagination, and perhaps as the fruit of a pencil stroke. Then it materializes between the clay and the hands.
For seven years, I’ve been devoted to mastering and shaping my materials and seeking the meeting of the four elements—fire, air, water and earth. I follow in the footsteps of Empédocle the poet, Plato the geometrician and Aristotle the philosopher. I’m trying to answer, in my own modest way, the haunting question of the origin of life on Earth.
“Listen first to the four roots of all things, fire, water, earth and the immensely high ether. From there comes all that has been, is, and will be.” (Empédocle to Pausanias.)
Architecture demands sensitivity in the genesis of each project. And it requires rigor for successful execution.
“In front of the gushing creation, our intelligence is paralyzed. To grasp this birth, it always arrives too late. It remains, of course, to console itself, to dwell on the before and after. The counterpart, that is to say the whole, escapes.” (René Untereiner – Reflections on artistic creation)
In 2015, acute myeloblastic leukemia forced me to stay in a sterile room for six months. I realized that my knowledge of the modeling and visualization software that I had been using at that time in my professional architectural practice could find a completely different use in artistic expression.
A fantastic world opened up to me. I developed forms, volumes, and reflections which I played into an infinite three-dimensional space. I worked on translucence and refraction, and the subtle, endless colors offered by glass, quartz or diamonds. This led me into a surprising dreamlike universe.
It is these dreams that keep me going. It is these dreams that I want to share through my work.
Digital art diverts the utilitarian functions of the computer. Using software in this new way shares my intention to go beyond reality, and to continue to create in order to continue to exist. All prints are unique pieces with a certificate of authenticity.
Artist Patrice Elmer invites you to follow him on Artmajeur and YouTube.
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