On one side nature, naked, raw in its original state, and on the other, a growing civilization with its ever more outsized and omnipresent architecture.
It is this duality that nourishes J.B. Lyonnet’s inspiration and work, by questioning the relationship we have with space and the way that we apprehend it.

The emotion felt before the raw strength of natural elements, coexisting with the vibrant complexity of cities, reminds us of the fragile equilibrium of our cohabitation. A city, set down in the middle of nature, has its own silhouette, its own physiognomy depending on the rivers or mountains that border it.
Both of them living and complex, they evolve with their strengths and weaknesses.

“In my canvases, I try to recreate these feelings and emotions, by attempting to capture the fluttering of light, following the flight of clouds, entering the grid of metropolises and their twinkling illuminations.
“I explore large spaces with blurred horizons, oceans surging beyond boundaries and I try to see behind these landscapes, the mysteries of unknown lands.
“I closely observe life in all its forms, its colors, its fleeting moments and images that are discovered.
“Without a sketch, without a preconceived diagram, I scrutinize the favorable moment, the vision that will impose itself with certainty, to gather its spark.
“I paint the sky, the ocean, rocks and their dust, buildings and their reflections, that have come from the nebulous worlds of memory, challenging my relationship to the universe.
“I listen to messages that have come from buried times, dreams and memories, atmospheres to be found.
“I watch out, on the canvas, for the decisive moment when, like an apparition, the obvious strength of vital energy, a moment stolen from eternity, must emerge.”

J.B. Lyonnet’s objective is to be faithful to the delicate move from the interior to the exterior that guides his gesture so that we share his inner reality. Painting is then a journey of initiation into a dream-like universe.