LUDOVIC MERCHER

Originally from Roubaix, Ludovic MERCHER approaches painting empirically. He has only taken a few painting courses to familiarize himself with different materials. He prefers to dictate the direction of his pictorial research himself, even if it means questioning it.

Ludovic MERCHER's first brushstrokes on canvas were aimed at hyperrealistic representations and still lifes. He then experimented with different techniques, with pencil and oil painting being his preference. This was followed by a long process of refinement that led him to reduce his palette and focus on landscape sketches. He also eventually chose acrylic paint, which offered him more freedom.

Ludovic MERCHER's work attempts to define the relationship between Man and Space. The construction of a canvas begins with the sketch of a landscape that tends towards abstraction. The artist lets painting accidents disturb this background. He then superimposes geometric elements, which symbolize human intervention, the presence of the "mastered" within the uncontrollable. The curves of the landscape are echoed by the strict straight lines of squares and rectangles. When obliques disturb the landscape, a sense of movement and instability inhabits the canvas, creating an additional shock.

It is understandable that Ludovic MERCHER is particularly interested in urban spaces, where the cohabitation between Man and Nature is a permanent negotiation. He is deeply influenced by Japanese culture and contemporary architecture, both of which bring reflections on the subject. Contributing his stone to this intellectual edifice, Ludovic MERCHER both opens and encloses the space of his canvas, inscribing himself in this current of thought that refuses to distinguish Man from his vital space.