Éric Bourdon (born 1979) is a French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Painting career

Bourdon's works have in common vivid colors and unpremeditated pencil strokes, expressive of raw enthusiasm in the "art brut" or "

Outsider Art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...

" manner. Paul Masquelier, critic for the controversial review ''Eléments'' has pointed out the narcissistic or regressive aspects of his paintings, while conceding their social commentary and the feeling of ''joie de vivre'' they convey. However, the core of his artistic practice is elsewhere. Bicha Gallery outlined it as follows: ''"Eric's work is more drawing than painting. It is a game with lines, first drawn in a spontaneous manner, random – much like a child doodling – then worked and reworked again and again until something new, a precise figure, character, emerges from this chaos. Always newness created from the nothingness. No character ever appears twice."'' Indeed, Eric Bourdon's work is all about "improv drawing", as one can see on videos showing the artist drawing on a white board. Samantha Deman, critic for the French information website about contemporary art ''Arts Hebdo , Medias'' was enthusiastic after seeing the results in painting: ''"His universe is merry and fanciful, the stroke, spontaneous, has a great time on the canvas, virtuoso of the line, curves and arabesques, until the bright and luminous colours burst onto the scene and repossess it. Eric Bourdon bends kind monsters into shape who glide gracefully among a faun of individuals whose silhouettes are of the most amazing, plump or lanky, always infinitly sympathetic and delighted to come to stimulate our dormant child souls."''

Writing career

Bourdon wrote a book of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

in 2000 about artistic creation in practice. He wrote a long article for the magazine ''Concepts 1'', comparing the first ethnological discoveries of

L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianetic ...

, later the founder of the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

, to '' Zarathustra'' by German philosopher

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

. Six years later he published a dark psychological thriller, ''Les Voleurs d'Enfant'' (The Child Thieves), depicting a ''cult against the cults''. Although set in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, it is a dig at the French associations claiming religious neutrality and opposition to cults while behaving the same way as the cults they denounce. ''Les Clarificateurs'' (The Clearers), released in January 2012, is a more literary sequel to ''Les Voleurs d'Enfant'', well received by critics. However, as the thriller seems to explore the family reasons that lead someone to enter into a very modern religious organisation, it might be seen this time again as a complete parody of these views and a critic of the failure of the modern society.Official presentation page of the novel ''Les Clarificateurs''.
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Books

*''Hors-sujets, ou l'art du néant et rebonds philosophiques'' ("Beside the Point, or the Art of Nothingness and Philosophical Rebounds"), Sils Maria asbl, February 2000. *''Introduction to Nietzsche's "Also Spratch Zarathustra"'', in ''Concepts ', Sils Maria asbl, August 2000, pp 91–108. *''Les Voleurs d'Enfant'' (The Child Thieves), La Méduse, Lille, August 2006. *''Les Clarificateurs'' (The Clearers), La Méduse, Lille, January 2012.

References

External links

official website

official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourdon, Eric 1979 births Living people Outsider artists French male painters 21st-century French painters 21st-century French male artists 21st-century French novelists French male novelists 21st-century French male writers