This spring, Hugo Galerie is thrilled to present a solo exhibition of new oil on canvas paintings by French artist Laurent Dauptain. Dauptain, born in Paris in 1961, is best known for his large-scale self-portraits, of which he has painted thousands over the last thirty years. His prolific autoportraits feature visible brush strokes, generous paint application and a sensitive approach to color. While Dauptain is most known for these portraits, his subjects range from masterful landscapes and scenes of daily life to quiet still lifes. The new collection of over twenty paintings includes recent self-portraits, as well as stunning floral still lifes and emotive figurative scenes.

The artist’s fascination with self-portraits began in college at the age of twenty when he received a college assignment to imagine and draw himself at several different ages ranging from fifteen to ninety-five years old. After the project was completed, he decided to undertake the endeavor in real time and paint his actual changing appearance over time. Using mirrors and recent photographs, Dauptain creates soulful portraits of his own face, each with a different expression, each at a different moment in his life. He continuously finds new ways to broach his evolving subject. His portraits are technical explorations into the realm of painting as well as explorations into his evolution as a painter and as an aging man – physically and psychologically. After over thirty years of painting these images, Dauptain’s curiosity, as well as that of his viewers, has proved to be insatiable.

Dauptain, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the École des Arts Décoratifs, gained a master’s degree in Aesthetics in 1984. Since graduating from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1981, he has exhibited constantly and received numerous awards for his work, including the Grand Prix of the Salon des Peintres de l’Armée (2003), the Taylor Prize (2001), and the gold medal of the Salon des Artistes Français (1997). He has had several exceptionally successful solo exhibitions at Axelle Fine Arts Galerie, Hugo Galerie’s predecessor, since 2007. He now lives and works in France. The artist will attend the opening reception on May 27, 2017.