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Artists




John Mejia




Colombian from Cali born in 1976, John Mejia arrived in France during the 1998 Football World Cup. He has always drawn and painted but it was following the tragedy of the Nice attacks that he decided to devote himself exclusively to his artistic work, after a watercolor that he spontaneously executed on the evening of the tragedy "Pray for Nice" went around the world.
World artist John has his work regularly presented in the United States and Europe and has notably executed numerous commissions for public figures as well as for communities.

The official poster for the 29th edition of Les Voiles d'Antibes was created by the artist John Mejia.


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He is very influenced by classical and modern painting (Velasquez, Botero, Freud, among others, but his pictorial exploration and expression are eminently contem-porary, leaving much room for the dazzling and colorful spontaneity that animates his Latin American soul, mark of the sensitive liveliness of his always curious mind. It is for many years here on the Côte d'Azur that he has continued his pictorial quest.

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Mme S.



Mme S. (Mrs S.in English) is a painter who lives and creates in Marseille. 
She graduated from the Arts Appliqués de Parisand the Beaux-Arts de Marseille.

« As we look at the aslept ladies of Mme S. , alternatly sleepy, languid, a doubt arises… Are they freed by their dreams or are they invadedby them? Encroachment, that is quite the subject of Mme S.’s works. »

With poetry and sensuality Mme S. lays her asleptladies, made of ink, of pencil, on a paper she burns or pins, telling us about the internal feelings or landscapes taking place in her night encroachments.

🥇 Golden medal Salon des Beaux-Arts de Paris 2024 section papier

🥇 Golden medal Jury invité du salon des Beaux-Arts de Paris  2024

🥇 Prix Calligrane 2024 Salon des Beaux-Arts de Paris 2024

🥇 Prix "Géant des Beaux-Arts" du salon des Beaux-Art de Paris 2023


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Panagiotis Pougaridis





Panagiotis Pougaridis was born in 1968 in Thessaloniki, where he lives and works.  

Panagiotis Pougaridis does ships.

Panagiotis Pougaridis’s ships are made of brass and copper.

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"Living in Thessaloniki, a city by the sea, the eye constantly trains upon the water, the port, the ships, I noticed their volume standing still, clearly outlined in the sunlight or fading away indiscernible through the fog. A vision recurring and at the same time diverse and captivating...



...Loaded with these images, I had experienced, I have been creating big or smaller boats, conjectural objects, through wich I have been trying to render all these diverse visions and to relieve their monotony, depicting them some times almost in their real proportions and some other as if they were deformed by the memory of the perspective viewpoint of their imposing volume...



...My eye travels from the water – line to the deck, from stem to stern, focuses in the detail of their rig, identifying their sculptural dimension, drawing near the multiple layers of the oil paint, the rust, the wear caused by the sea and the desertion, discovering the conjectural value of the incidental then the visual experience is transferred to the object wishing to overcome its regular form and the chromatic standards...




...In the end I hold an object, the repetition of which does not bore me; not with standing, it inflames me to start again, looking for a new ways and new variations to render it."
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Pierre Heintz



A graduate of European Graphic Design in Paris (17th), he worked for many years as a graphic designer within large industrial groups. In 2013, two of his designs were selected for the Nice Carnival.
This will be the trigger; he has since become a painter-illustrator. We can now find his paintings on the walls of some beautiful villas, from the Côte d'Azur to Switzerland, from Saint-Barthélémy to Paris.

“I like the idea of a certain paradox: a naturalistic, apparently bucolic theme which is in fact dominated by a certain radicality.

Plants, nature are not the subject but the means.
I use plants, exploring all the combinations and contrasts of shape and color, to approach the subject of painting itself. The incredible diversity of life as a source of inspiration but not as a model.
It is therefore a studio painting, without a living model, where the rules and decisions are taken upstream of the execution and are imposed on it. A painting that tends towards the mind of those who look at it, more than towards their emotions.

These rules are a uniqueness of format and composition (centered), great clarity (avoid effects), contrasts of shapes and colors (radical rather than aesthetic), the systematic repetition of shapes and their accumulation. (…)

So if music were to accompany my painting, it would not be bucolic music but rather repetitive music like that of Philip Glass or Steve Reich.

Despite appearances, I do not place myself in what should be called figurative painting.

That’s the paradox.”

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Guillaume Cavalier



The work of Guillaume Cavalier oscillates between two worlds: that of matter and that of spirit. A figurative narrative is revealed in his pictorial compositions, where sometimes order coexists with chaos.
Its generous palette and the grace of its line play with the eye of those who venture to observe it. Part of its production reflects a civilization in turmoil. The other part tends to make a supersensible and singular universe intelligible.

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The young painter, Guillaume Cavalier, is the inspired symbolist who increasingly fascinates and attracts those involved in contemporary art.

From his ink drawings to his paintings on canvas, a double search, exterior and interior, pushes these antagonisms to be reconciled. A quest, mixing Tradition and Freedom, is embodied in this artist born in 1994.


His original and poetic outlook covers varied areas, from everyday life to metaphysics.

His subjects of reflection offer a panorama of life in the 21st century, making the artist the witness of his time.

A cleverly orchestrated symbolism frees speech and initiates a dialogue between ideas. Behind a humble and naive character hides a stubborn goldsmith, gradually revealing the treasures that reside within him.




Baldot



Baldot is a Colombian artist from Valledupar who since childhood has always wanted to be a painter.

But life turned such he lived as a professionnal boxer conducting an international career on the latino american continent. Retired from the ring he then dedicated himself fully to his inner, his core impulsion for the lines and and the colors.

From one dance to another, from swiftness to spontaneity, from strenght to power, from the body and the mind the movements of life  which were at play in the ring are now on the canvas.

Roots, soul, spirit, human awarness, earth, misteries, something of a woodoo trance is around here.

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Baldot’s work is strong and sensitive. It bears no compromise ; it is immediate, its comes from the soul, from deep in the soul, through and old and permanent struggle, a personnal and also universal human heritage, and is yet an achievement on each canvas.

Let us hear him :

“Art is like humanity itself, with beautiful and interesting imperfections. The viewer must let himself be carried away by the emotion generated by the work, which is the fruit of an ancestral heritage. It is he who shapes my paintings… roots are transformed into colorful images, meeting, producing masks which are expressions of my Afro-descendant identity. With their dance and their roots, they survive on my canvas, in an imaginary world.

In my work I bring to life the reflection of the richness of the Colombian Caribbean, with its joy, its magic, its composition and all its heritage of great tribes who conquered Latin America with their color. Hidden bodies, faces of black men, mulattoes, natives, mixed gods, wanting to emerge from the canvas itself. I am spontaneous, I ritualize with the canvas. I am expressive and I never work without a reason, because I believe in works with a concept. My features are guided by my soul, wanting to find myself, my dreams, my past, my struggle, questioning the very concept of seeing art.



My avatar is Naif, Benba Colora (strong lips), Eccehomo. My organic faces are sweet. The bull and his strength. I am always the chicken that I paint, and the same chicken in all my series. My soul is always naked. My paintings are free, rebellious, they guide themselves. They touch each other, mix, mate in mythical forms. They slide like snakes on the canvas, seductive, fiery. I let them intertwine to become one. Sometimes they stop, I just look at them. If I interrupt them, it won't be me or them. They dominate my energy and create incredible textures, like volcanic lava, reflecting organic and prehistoric humanoid figures, like the very beginning of time, beautiful like the infinite journey of existence.

This is why this way of expressing myself respects the dominance of color and the figure of the canvas, which has not been dominated by its creator, but which is free for the viewer.”


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Jon Voss




Jon Voss is a British artist and architect, trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture where he graduated with distinction in 2003.
In 2004, Jon moved to Sydney Australia, perusing his passion for art and design. Since 2014 he has been living in Narbonne where he is creating works of sculpture, illustration and light art in his Antibes atelier.

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Jon's art is a considered juxtaposition. It’s both a fascination with our industrialized world, and an anchor for an ecological & moral realization. It’s the conflict of these two loves that can be seen throughout its artistic works.
“A large part of what I do comes from a love of machines and all things mechanical, however the form is borrowed from the immensely complex and elegant lines of nature. It is this unlikely but intriguing symbiosis of these passions that drives what I do”
🏅 Jon has work held in collections in Australia and he has been commissioned for a number of large-scale projects including private and public art commissions nationally and internationally.





Philippe Gavin


Born in Toulon to a grandfather and father in the French Navy, sea stories filled his childhood and have always been with him... From his first outings on the water at the age of 6, he never stopped sailing... Family cruises and regattas in the Mediterranean.
After obtaining a Ph.D. in signal processing in geophysics, he worked for over 15 years as a researcher in the oil industry for the French Institute of Petroleum and TotalEnergie (formerly Elf).

His transfer within Elf to Pau brought him face to face with the Pyrenees mountain range. He began painting mountain landscapes.

The year 2000 marked not only a change of century but also a significant change in his professional life, marking the beginning of his career as an artist, passionate about mountains and the sea.

He has been a member of the Maison des Artistes since that year. In 2003, Philippe definitively left the world of scientific research for his own artistic pursuits. He moved to the French Riviera.

He regularly exhibits during classic yacht regattas in the Mediterranean. The Voiles d'Antibes, the Classic-Week of Monaco, the Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the Régates Royales de Cannes, etc.

He became a member of the Yacht Club de Monaco and crew member on "Tuiga," the flagship of the principality, for 20 years.
From his sailing experiences, he offers a contemporary perspective on marine painting. He reinterprets and refreshes the genre on large (rare) watercolor formats.

His dual expertise as a racing yachtsman and a painter of the sea allows him to transparently capture an atmosphere that connoisseurs appreciate in his work.

🏅 He has been selected several times for the "Salon de la Marine" at the Museum of the Navy at Trocadéro in Paris...

🏅 He is represented in the collections of French fine arts museums.

🏅 He has also been selected for the International Contemporary Marine Art Exhibition at Mystic Seaport on the East Coast of the United States.

🏅 His works have been represented for several years in a gallery in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, the birthplace of the America's Cup.

Today, he is present in galleries in France, England, the United States, and the Caribbean.

Philippe lives and works in the heart of the old town of Antibes in the Alpes-Maritimes.


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Four Hands Works

John Mejia & Guillaume Cavalier

Gallery Alexandre Simonin presents a unique art experience: Guillaume Cavalier & John Mejia, painting together on the same canvases. 

Two languages, two quests, one unique expression.




John Mejia and Guillaume Cavalier present two complementary pictorial interpretations.

Mejia's pursuit of realism dismantles academic conventions through a series of delicate yet forceful gestures.

Cavalier, on the other hand, reveals reality through impressions, retracing a dreamlike narrative with a free and continuous black line.

From these two worlds emerges a singular dialogue between diverse approaches to reality. John's expressive figuration merges with Guillaume's symbolic narration. Together, their paintings deliver a cocktail of contrasts, shedding light on a pluralistic and humanistic vision.

Balanced between reality and imagination, their artistic duo embodies an aesthetic, spiritual, and social conciliation. Together, they aim to harmonize opposites in the pursuit of beauty.




The exhibition explores several themes, organized into four main categories: portraits, animals, famous paintings, and artists' tables.




The portrait theme invites viewers to rediscover the history of great characters, understand their impact on society, and reflect on their resonance with the present. Their gazes harbor a spark, an intangible essence, that compels contemplation.

For instance, Napoleon Bonaparte laid the foundations of a new society. Both admired and criticized, his strength of character and strategic intelligence opened him the doors to power. John restores the splendor of Napoleon’s golden years, where Bonaparte embodied an imperious ideal.

Guillaume, meanwhile, captures key periods of his life: the Italian, Egyptian, and Russian campaigns, his rivalry with the British navy, and his unwavering love for Josephine and artillery.

This series of portraits includes men of power, action, and arts, who coexist alongside their female counterparts, such as the portrait of The Geisha.

The Geisha
The Red Horse
The new Adam
Game Over
Artists’ Lunch
Young Ladies of Avignon
The animal theme offers more contemporary compositions. A tiger leaps into a torrent in pursuit of a childlike bird. A red horse with white sneakers doubles as a rearing horse sketched in charcoal. Surreal scenes, both intriguing and amusing, captivate the eye and arouse curiosity.

These two art lovers and admirers of its history resolve a centuries-old debate that began in Italy between proponents of color (the Venetian school) and those of line (the Florentine school). John Mejia and Guillaume Cavalier, through their collaborative work, crystallize a union of these two artistic approaches. John, as a disciple of color, brings a Latin warmth to the canvas. Guillaume, as a disciple of line, spiritualizes it.

Naturally, this led them to reinterpret iconic works by old masters.


In their homage to Klimt, the lovers are embraced by a fountain of light. Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa enjoys Duchamp’s signature. The great odalisque of Ingres lounges on a snake with an apple. Michelangelo's Adam responds to him floating above an apocalyptic traffic jam. The ladies of Avignon become the ladies of Antibes.

 Through the works of the elders Cavalier and Mejia bear witness to their time. They humorously contextualize paintings from the tradition in a post-industrial world.



Finally, the artists’ tables round off the themes developed in this exhibition. These paintings are an ode to conviviality. Culinary references pile up in joyful and lively compositions. Wine bottles become empty and humanized. Our memories are immersed in these meals which last forever on summer days lulled by the song of cicadas. Copious or frugal, these tables are always well watered and celebrate an assumed hedonism. Artists’ tables reflect our cultures, our lifestyles as well as our aspirations for freedom in all its forms. 

This last theme communicates with simplicity the values ​​of fraternity and living together, and once again materializes this aesthetic, spiritual and social conciliation embodied by their pictorial duo.








GALERIE ALEXANDRE SIMONIN · 2 RUE DU MARC · 06600 ANTIBES FRANCE
 
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