Jean-Michel FOLON

An artistic all-rounder, who defined himself as “neither a painter, nor a draughtsman, nor a poster artist, nor a writer, nor an engraver. My work is neither abstract nor figurative ...
I do not pretend to understand my images, and everyone is free to understand them as they like. I have merely tried to represent my own imaginings, in the hope that others will be able to recognise their own in them”, Folon was an incredibly successful artist, from his illustrations for famous American magazines in the 1960’s, his many poster designs, the works he presented at the Biennials in Venice and in Sao Paolo to the television credits for Antenne 2,... There is therefore no reason to be surprised that he also turned his hand to tapestry design (his largest piece, 80m2 is exhibited at the Centre des Congrès in Monaco, woven, as all his other works in the genre, by the Four workshop), in his characteristic airy and understated style whose inspiration is not a thousand miles from that of his compatriot Magritte.

The aesthetics of our tapestry are highly inspired by watercolour (pale hues, gradation effects,…), Folon's preferred medium, which gives it a specificity that is the opposite of the creations of other contemporary painter-cartoonists. The sun-eye, a leitmotif in Folon's work, overlooking a landscape, is a testament to his singular oneirism.

Bibliography:
Léon-Louis Sosset, Tapisserie contemporaine en Belgique, Perron, 1989, ill. p.138