Itinerary
There is nothing linear, premeditated or planned about Régis Granville’s journey. It is nourished by encounters, daydreams, childhood memories, the emotions of the adolescent and adult that he is, his wonder in the face of nature, in the face of human beings rich in experiences, of knowledge, of know-how, of knowing how to be.
At Régis Granville, everything follows one another, intersects, intersects, overlaps without apparent logic; yet the constancy of his progress, the diversity in his plastic research nourished by a humanism and a philosophical reflection dear to the artist, constitute the springs of an artistic proposition which is now solid and total.
“My sources of inspiration are multiple: a gesture, a look, an expression, listening to people of all ages, cuisine from here and elsewhere, a light, a landscape, a symbol, everything that comes resonated with me at some point; my family mix, my Martinican origins, the values received from my parents and my maternal grandparents who taught me respect for others…” – Régis Granville
A happy childhood and adolescence
From a young age, Régis marveled at the sight of the stained glass windows of the church of François, his hometown in Martinique. He devotes himself to drawing, painting, piano and dancing. These different artistic activities find an echo in his adult life path.
As a child, Régis took piano lessons with Marius Cultier, an international jazz musician from Martinique.
From the ages of 11 to 17, Régis trained in contemporary dance and modern jazz at SERMAC in Fort de France, then at Paris Center Clichy where he was spotted by the choreographer Nelson.
During his young age in 1991, Régis was involved in different troupes and ballets (Ballet Love Nelson / The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in training / Under the direction of choreographer-dancer Alfred Alerte of the Ballet de Christiane Blaise / Georges Paisley, independent choreographer-dancer). Régis was recalled in 2005 by the Swiss choreographer Kareen, and the choreographer-dancer Monica Frasson for a final performance in Cordoba, Argentina.
Meeting with the plastic arts – the visual arts
In 1986 during a student evening in Paris, then in 1987 at the bedside of a hospitalized friend Sabine Ouamba, Régis met the painter Martine NZE. The love of art naturally brings them together. This contact was decisive, with Régis becoming his student in 1987. Martine periodically taught him the keys to abstract art until 1997. That year, Martine organized a group exhibition, and gave Régis the opportunity to present his works. In 2012, always keen to improve his knowledge, Régis perfected his technique of oil and acrylic painting on canvas in the fine arts workshops of the City of Paris.
An adventurous artist
From 1988 to 1992, Régis simultaneously undertook university studies in London in international tourism, hospitality and the English language, supplemented by a language stay in Spain. During this period, Régis financed his studies thanks to “odd jobs”, notably that of reception and catering service within the establishment “The Cottons Art Gallery Jazz Restaurant”. The director, Michelle Bartlett, offers Régis the opportunity to exhibit his paintings in the gallery.
Always in search of new encounters, new cultures, Régis traveled the world between 1998 and 2008. Photography appears implicitly in his artistic work, a practice that he experiments with depending on the moment.
From 2002 to 2008, Régis lived more specifically in Argentina, and worked on an ecological hotel complex project. He also organizes tourist stays and explores South America.
The discovery of glass
In 2008, Régis decided to study glass, moved by his childhood memories and by the work of master glassmakers, observed in 1997 during a trip to Venice, on the island of Murano in Italy. He enrolled at the Sars-Poteries glass university in the north of France in order to learn the different glass working techniques (there he met Olivier Juteau and the couple Martine and Jacky Perrin). His training was validated in 2010, after having completed an internship with the renowned glass artist, Udo Zembok in Colmar, which guided him on the technique of multilayer glass “fusing” by inclusion of pigments, a specialty that Régis particularly likes. Régis' collaboration with Udo, which began in 2009, continued until 2013 in Camporosso, Italy.
However, Régis' passion for glass does not stop at fusing. Between 2010 and 2012, Régis also became familiar with other techniques, such as working with glass paste, thermoforming, blown glass, and painting on glass; at Pilchuck Glass School university campus in Longwood, Seattle (where he met Ki-ra Kim, famous professor at the University of Seoul in South Korea and his assistant Kay Hyewook, as well as Mark Salsbury from Saint-Louis - USA), then at the Loucas de Néhou high school in Paris.
In 2013, this passion found its full expression in the publication of “QÛX one, birth of a passion”, an art book published in 400 copies in three languages (French, Japanese, English), published by Lelivredart in Paris.
An artist touches everything
Continuing his work with glass, we must also mention the artist's interest in sculpture on stone, metal and wood, which he experimented with as an autodidact.
In 2015, Régis met Felix Rohner and Sabrina Schärer, inventors of the Hang Gubal, an instrument with a soothing sound. Echoing his early taste for music, Régis added a new string to his bow, by learning the practice of this instrument from the Swiss couple.
From 2015 to 2018, Régis was involved in his DMUM project “Dessine-Moi Un Mouton”, a traveling work. Régis' work is a poetic and artistic invitation to discover our interior in the footsteps of the Little Prince and in the footsteps of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, whose vision and objective are to reconnect human beings with their creativity, with their intuition, with their child's heart (http://www.dmum.art/bande-annonce-teaser/). By creating the DMUM association “Dessine-Moi Un Monde”, Régis invites his multidisciplinary artist friends to join him.
In 2021, following the lifting of health restrictions linked to the pandemic, Régis transformed his apartment into a “Home Sweet Gallery” and exhibited his creations there.
Back to basics
Since 2020, after leading a visual art painting workshop punctuated by the exhibition of his students' creations, in Pondicherry in India, Régis returns to his first great love, painting, with a mind teeming with projects. Since September 2023, and for three years, Régis has been taking large-format abstract painting classes at the fine arts workshops in Paris. With a workshop in Tuscany Italy in 2022 and 2023, Régis creates new creations of oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, with a view to his first exhibition in Martinique from February to March 2024 within the Scène Nationale Tropiques Atrium in Strong of France.
The portrait of Régis would remain incomplete by obscuring his spirituality which he developed through his practice of Nichiren Buddhism, a Japanese reforming monk from the 13th century, and which occupies an essential place in his daily life. Régis draws from it all the vital energy necessary for the expression of his creativity which is so visible in all of his work.
His career makes Régis GRANVILLE a passionate, inspired, instinctive and unclassifiable artist.
