L'atelier - Jérôme Laureau (2016)

Painting is a combat sport, one might say about Jérôme Laureau in paraphrasing the tittle of a famous movie. Jérôme finishes his paintings with a bang and wins them on the gong. For the two opponents are equally strong. The painter and the painting. The paintbrushes are as shaggy as their owner. When there's no hair left, you paint with the stick. It all happens at night, inside a cabin up in the trees. In the attic, Jérôme shares the oil workshop with the swarms of bees. He will use honey to paint when he's too broke to buy colors. In the barn it's acrylic and drawing. Chaos stands on ceremony and dust is no joke. On the ground floor, it's sculpting and writing. Dragons belch phrases in flames. From the basement, you hear the snarly strident sounds of Scrotum, the punk band in which Jérôme is the lyricist and composer. Both music and language come out of it scorched. Deep in the cavern, there is a bed. Made straight. For the day.