Frédéric Nolleau (1969)

Biography

Frédéric Nolleau is a freelance graphic designer and visual artist. Alongside his graphic design profession, he has developed a multifaceted artistic practice, exploring drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Over the years, he has patiently experimented with and refined numerous techniques, ultimately creating a visual language that is uniquely his own.

His current work is the culmination of an artistic journey where technical skill and emotional sensitivity converge. It begins with the selection and photography of places, buildings, or landscapes that inspire him—often imbued with a distinctive atmosphere. Once the photograph has been digitally edited and printed on paper, the studio work begins. This is where everything comes together: he pastes, partially erases, and overlays layers of oil pigments, solvents, waxes, and other materials. He embraces accidents, randomness, and the unknown—those elements that breathe life into any artistic creation.

Each piece is the result of a long process that combines technical mastery and improvisation. Yet he seeks to make this labour invisible—the work should feel effortless, with a presence that is almost tangible. His canvases, often dark and silent, seem scarred and filled with moments of disturbance. The image appears to have travelled through time, as though it belonged to a collective memory or a dream.

What interests him is not depicting a frozen reality. Rather, he strives to create a timeless non-place—an environment where the material presence of the subject fades away, giving room to universal emotion. His works do not merely describe a place; they invite reflection on time, memory, and erasure.

By blending painting, photography, and chance, he enjoys blurring the boundaries between disciplines. His aim is not to be confined to a category—painter, photographer, or otherwise—but to offer a unique visual experience where the viewer can lose themselves between the real and the imagined.

Solo exhibitions:

2024: Collège de Saint-Gervais d’Auvergne (63)

2018: La Pléiade – Commentry (03)

2015: Galerie Grand Angle – Ceyrat (63)

Group exhibitions:

2025: "Les Arts en balade" – Clermont-Ferrand (63)

2023: "Les Arts en balade" – Clermont-Ferrand (63)

2022/23: Galerie Catherine Pennec – Clermont-Ferrand (63)

2020: "Les Arts en balade" – Clermont-Ferrand (63)

2018: "Les Arts en balade" – Clermont-Ferrand (63)

2017: APAC – Urban Landscape – Chauray (79)

2017: Matières d’art – Hauterive (63)