Frenchman Guillaume Paturel's was born in Marseille in 1970. His artistic trajectory escapes all attempt at labeling. Beyond starting his career with the classical use of painting and illustration collage, he also presented furniture and scenographic projects at the 1990 Biennale de Valencia in Spain. Then, at the age 22, the young artist graduated from both the "École des Beaux Arts" in Marseille, France and the École d'Architecture of Paris la Villette.
A talented "touche-a-tout", he directed:
1992 "Baie des singes" (20 mn). Presented in the Official Selection of the Short Movie Festival of Clermont Ferrand, FR
1993 "Trop loin" , (25 mn). Presented in the Official Selection of the Short Movie Festival of Aix-en-Provence, FR
1996 "D'un jour a l'autre" (90mn), his first full feature film
2000 "NYC III" a trilogy of three shorts shot in New York. Presented at the Locarno Film Festival, Ch and the Roma film festival, the official Mostra de Venise selection in 2002.
The rise of the virtual world, the Internet and Google map, gave Guillaume the medium and the tools to fuse his two passions, art making and architecture. Still based in his hometown, Marseille, he soon became one of a handful of world-class image makers for so-called « starchitects ».
After making more than 3000 digital architectural image projects, Guillaume moved to NYC in 2006. .
His first project in New York was a virtual illustration of the new World Trade Center design. Then he contributed to major urban projects such as Kaust & Kacare in Saudi Arabia, or Aktau City in Kazakhstan. In 2011 he notably worked on a series of private homes designed by some of the most revered architects in the world: Fujimoto, Faustino, Mos, Pezo, Von Ellrichshausen..
That period also coincided with a need that gradually morphed into a craving: to reconnect with raw materials, to feel real textures again, to mix true colors together: Guillaume left his computer technology aside and went back to painting and collages.
He developed his new form of art, one that fits who he is today: large physical paintings created on wood and canvas. “It was a real challenge, coming back to the essence of my Artistic soul,” Guillaume says. "I have been living in a virtual world for 20 years, and most of the projects I have done never really came to life for me. These 3D projects were created and then e-mailed off to Architects. My fees got wired to my bank account. I rarely even saw the images printed. Now my paintings have to be heavy and physical and hard to maneuver. I need to feel the textures, almost like sculptures. My influences are in the same spirit; cities, maps, landscapes and architecture."
He had four solo shows:
At the Fragmental Museum curated by Guy Reziciner , Queens NY in Mai 2012 .
At the One Art Space in Manhattan, NY in June 2013.
At A+E gallery curated by Ginette_NY, Manhattan in October 2015.
At White Box, Lower East Side NY in April 2017.
white box/ New-York