L’Épatante Galerie invites you to discover the works of four artists from the Strasbourg School of Decorative Arts.  This is the first show which will bring all four of these friends and schoolmates together in the same gallery.

Arnaud Cremet
Arnaud Cremet is a cartoonist, illustrator, and painter who works in traditional mediums (oil painting, pen and ink, watercolor, clay…) as well as digital. His mystical and magical works aim to highlight a certain truth through fantastic and dreamlike atmospheres.  Just back from the Polenovo Museum in Russia [the former residence of the artist Vasily Polenov (1844-1927)], Cremet’s recent work reflects the symbolism of the forest in Autumn: a portrayal of nature where dreams and nightmares seem to be one in a reality transcended and sublimated by color and light.

Thomas Ehretsmann
Thomas Ehretsmann is a cartoonist, illustrator, and painter who uses oil and acrylic paint to create contemporary realist images in a traditionalist manner.  His works are characterized by an attention to detail, which, despite their extreme accuracy, never suffer fault in their coloring. Inspired by everyday scenes, Ehretsmann’s poetic imagery suggests a suspension of time into which the viewer is invited to travel inside.  Included in this exhibition will be many of Ehretsmann’s personal drawings and paintings, as well as a selection of illustrations commissioned of Ehretsmann by some of the best-known publishers and magazines.

Carole Gourrat
Carole Gourrat is an illustrator who, after having worked in newspapers and publishing, now devotes her time to her favorite field, children’s books, especially those story books which allow her free rein to use her imagination.  Despite being considered a children’s illustrator, however, the Baroque universes she creates, with their surrealistic take on nature, have not only enchanted  the young, but all ages.  During this exhibition, Gourrat will present her latest work, a series of paintings she has called Hanging Gardens, a series of “sumptuous daydreams populated with fantastic animals, and woven of flowers and foliage extraordinaire…”

Alexis Nesme
Alexis Nesme is both cartoonist and illustrator.  Inspired by classical, romantic, and Flemish painting, Nesme uses a mixed technique of oil paint and gouache to create meticulous universes, formed of light and color.  Glowing lights, warm colors, and contrasts of chiaroscuro and brilliant color, combine to create a universe which is, by turns, bright, magical or mysterious.  In this exhibition, Nesme will offer us the opportunity to discover the genesis of his work by presenting the boards and sketches for his famous trilogy of Captain Grant, a flamboyant but respectful animal adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel, In Search of the Castaways.  Nesme will also let us discover the originals of his latest project, which is the fruit of a wonderful trip to Russia, and his meeting with the writer Olivier Bleys.

The exhibition will open with a reception at 7:00pm on Friday November 18th.

L’Épatante Galerie is an ephemeral gallery dedicated to creation in all its forms.