French Spring Festival : Featuring the 'cosmic drawings' of artist Philippe Baudelocque

Inspired by the universe French artist Philippe Baudelocque, finished drawing his signature monochromatic murals on the walls of Park Street Mews, École Française Internationale de Colombo (EFIC) and the Alliance Française de Kotte this week as part of the French Spring Festival.

By Ruqyyaha Deane

Inspired by the universe French artist Philippe Baudelocque, finished drawing his signature monochromatic murals on the walls of Park Street Mews, École Française Internationale de Colombo (EFIC) and the Alliance Française de Kotte this week as part of the French Spring Festival.

Finding his passion for art at the age of 17, Baudelocque graduated from National School of Decorative Arts, Paris in 2002 and then proceeded to take the world by storm with his unique artworks. His creations can be found in Abu Dhabi, Azerbaijan, Canada, Hong Kong and now Sri Lanka.

Baudelocque claims that he is not the guy you come to when you need something drawn instead he observes that he is the artist you come to when you need a message carried out. “I am interested by the connection between everything, the connection. That is the most important thing.”

Known for his street murals of animals, the French artist talks about his main source of inspiration: “It (animals) is universal. I can put wolves or bees or elephants everywhere. In New York, in Paris, in Brisbane and Singapore. It is exactly the same message. And everybody understands, that is the point.” On one wall of the Park Street Mews, Baudelocque created an artwork of elephants in a delicate mosaic pattern.

Chalk was the medium he used in the beginning of his career but now he has switched to oil pastels and prefers it due to the fragility of the medium. Passionate about the fragility of the earth he expresses that usually fragile objects on earth are tiny so by creating something big out of oil pastels, he creates a paradox of something that is fragile but not.

It is not just monochromatic murals that Baudelocque has under his repertoire, he explains that he has two collections. The black and white artwork which he calls his ‘cosmic drawings’ and a colourful collection that is called ‘Yatta’ — which means Hooray in Japanese.

As a message to young artists and speaking about his journey as an artist Baudelocque shared “It’s hard, very hard. You need faith in yourself. You need to have big, strong, real, beautiful faith with you. You need it, absolutely need it. You also need to work with your heart.”

(Pix by Priyanka Samaraweera)