© 06/2017

About Kérozen Back to his roots The painter Kérozen was born in 1959 in France, in Créteil, near Paris. He studied drawing in the experimental artistic high school of Sèvres-Ville d’Avray and graphics at the “Ecole Corvisart” of Paris. He has lived and worked in Italy from more than 25 years. In Italy, he has organized and participated in exhibitions in Rome, Milan, Turin, Venice, Florence, Vinci, Asolo, Forlì and more recently in Arpino, Colleferro and Isola Liri. Since 2006, he has returned to his roots and chosen to live in the place where his Italian grandparents, Gerardo Pellecchia and Maria De Mambro, came from, establishing his studio in Arpino. The Ciociaria (the name of the region where he now lives) inspires him a lot. He likes expressing in his paintings the ‘joie de vivre’ he feels in this environment: street corners of Arpino seen with whimsy and imagination; coloured and joyful participants of the “Gonfalone”, the big traditional festival of the summer; animals or landscapes observed during walks in the countryside around the city of Cicerone; bread and wine on the table in the olive grove; olive trees ready for the harvest, colourful butterflies, sheep in the fields... " I wanted to engrave the sensations which I felt when I came to this beautiful country, in recognition of a reality which gives so much to me ", he says about his last exhibitions in the San Carlo church, the "Sallotino" and the Bar Sport on the central place of Arpino. The title of his exhibition in the illustrious hotel “Cavalier d' Arpino” in August 2013, “La gioia di vivere – La joie de vivre”, summarises very well his artistic approach - a path which also guides him towards more philosophical research or religious inspiration. A pallet of styles His works are rich in colours and in whimsy. Kérozen likes playing with forms and colours by painting in a pallet of very different styles: graphic interpretations of reality or realistic images; incorporations of abstract forms (“zigouigouis”) or subtle games with the reflections of gold leaf in his paintings; simple paintings or compositions of 3, 6 or 9 pieces, or exploration of space with his “totem poles”. For more than 30 years, Kérozen has organized numerous personal exhibitions in France, in Italy, in Switzerland or in Burkina Faso. He has also participated in various group exhibitions in France, Scotland, Greece, the Netherlands, Taiwan and in Italy, in particular in the "Museo Ideale" in Vinci, Tuscany, or the national automobile Museum of Turin. In France he has founded an association to organize cultural events. He has also participated in two films about the Mona Lisa, a major source of inspiration for him. Kerozen in his studio Some photos of Kerozen working in his studio :