Amaury Dubois transforms the vault of a church

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Street Art - Amaury Dubois transforms the vault of a church !

After Picasso, Matisse and Okuda, it is now Amaury Dubois' turn to mark the interior of a church with a unique contemporary fresco.

A major fresco of 600m² : when the artist Amaury Dubois gives new life to a church in FRANCE

It is on the seaside in the West of France, just a few kilometers from La Rochelle and more precisely in the church Sainte-Madeleine of Châtelaillon-Plage, that the artist from Lille came to put down his suitcases for two months at the beginning of the year 2020.

It is at the request of the city, owner of the church and at the initiative of the project as part of the restoration work of the building, that Amaury Dubois imagined and designed a work of art respecting both the spiritual dimension of the place, as well as the singular and colourful identity of the seaside resort that is Châtelaillon-Plage.

Usually used to the canvases he covers with his curved and colourful creations, Amaury Dubois took up the challenge to create a unique and custom-made fresco of 600m², covering the entire vault of the church to its choir, including the stained-glass windows. A major artwork for the artist, as his fresco became one of the largest works ever created in a church in France!

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The Dynamic Colors of Life: A Journey through a 19th Century Church

In this 19th century church, everything is now about life and movement. As soon as you enter, you are blown away by infinite curves in warm colours, emanating from the choir and spreading along the vault of the building.

The ceiling almost seems to be in motion, because of the bewitching shapes. Their undulations, almost aquatic, contain scales of fish, like a reminder of the ocean waiting for us a few meters away from the church, but also a return to the symbol of the first Christians and life in abundance.

After a few steps, we understand that it is a celestial vault above us, towards that vault the light of the Divine tries to create a path, along which its colours of life can extend until it warms the cold of the night. Then begins a real journey to the heart of a world of energies, in which we let ourselves travel with pleasure.

After the emotion of the first steps in the church, our gaze is lost in the volutes of colours and is carried to the stained-glass windows, where a flourishing nature is suddenly discovered. The sun’s rays, penetrating through each stained-glass window, bloomed a range of life that gradually spread along the walls. The richness of the details and the illusion of depth given by the use of 5 shades of blue, almost suggest a work of writing on the part of the artist.

For Amaury Dubois, this monumental fresco is to be seen as a living reality. Observe it imagining that if you come back in 50 years, nature escaping from the stained glass windows will have invaded the walls like a jungle, the curves of white light emanating from the choir will have joined those of the penumbra and the colour will have spread, covering all the vaults of the church and bringing life to the whole building.

“When I paint, I completely immerse myself in my work. This time the immersion was special. While we are generally facing our support, in a vertical position, I worked here under my “canvas”, perched on a scaffolding! The size, the symbolism, the time spent in the church made me feel at times that I was “part” of the work, that I belonged to it…”

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street art contemporary fresco church
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street art contemporary fresco church
street art contemporary fresco in church
street art contemporary fresco church
street art contemporary fresco in church
street art contemporary fresco church
street art contemporary fresco church
street art contemporary fresco church
street art contemporary fresco church
street art contemporary fresco church
street art contemporary fresco church

Painting life in motion: Amaury Dubois’ challenge in a contemporary church fresco

One can clearly feel in this church that Amaury Dubois was able, with such a surface, to give full scope of his artistic work’s philosophy: painting life in motion. A true expression for the artist, but also a real challenge!

Indeed, this time he left the canvases on an easel and had to rethink his work to adapt it to the relief and scale of the church, in order to obtain the desired visual effects. After preparatory sketching an abstract artwork in his studio, he painted the whole fresco by hand, using 5 brushes, before finalizing his work with spray-painting, creating a striking play of shadows and depth. A unique experience for the artist, who for the first time literally found himself overhung by his work of art.