Visage (2019) Drawing by Gérard Cottereau

Born in 1963, Gérard Cottereau is a self-taught French artist who lives and works in France. He explores various mediums, such as wood sculpture, oil on linen canvas, acrylic on canvas and wood, as well as pastel and chalk on paper and cardboard. His style oscillates between figurative and still life, creating works where color and material occupy a central place.

Cottereau began his artistic career in 1985, at the age of 22, exploring works that were sometimes figurative, sometimes surrealist or caricatured. After a ten-year break, he returned to painting in 2002, finding his true calling in the representation of still lifes and landscapes, often done with a knife. For him, everyday objects—fruit bowls, vases, aquatic landscapes—are only pretexts to express his sensitivity as a colorist, with frank and cubic touches that serve above all emotion.

Over the years, he developed his work by integrating faces and nudes in chalk, where he mixed various techniques to create unique pieces, playing on the contrasts between the raw texture and the ideal beauty of feminine forms. Cottereau has participated in numerous painting fairs, festivals and competitions since 1987, exhibiting regularly in galleries and various public places throughout France. His works have earned him several distinctions, notably at prestigious fairs such as the Salon d'Automne in Meslay-du-Maine and Solidor en Peinture in Saint-Malo.

• Nationality: FRANCE
• Date of birth : 1963
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary French Artists