Trained as a decorative painter, specialising in particular in the art of trompe-l'œil, Patrick Héline has always pursued a personal artistic approach rooted in a realistic aesthetic.
His early works depicted tropical landscapes, before he explored the marine world through a macroscopic approach. About twenty years ago, he turned his attention to ‘intimate’ interior scenes, in the tradition of the painter Gustave Caillebotte.
Inspired by the Italian masters, whom he admires for their mastery of light and shadow through the use of glazing, he revisits these classical techniques with contemporary tools, notably the airbrush. His work thus strikes a subtle balance between tradition and modernity. His canvases, playing on the contrasts of shadows and reflections, are distinguished by a cool palette enhanced by warm touches, and by the choice of contemporary subjects that give his work a resolutely modern look.
In 2022, at the age of 70, marked like many by the COVID period, the artist felt the need to renew and broaden his creative field. He returned to watercolour, which he had long used in his travel journals, and now reproduces in acrylic resin on aluminium. Seduced by the possibilities offered by this material, he also adopted it for sculpture, taking advantage of its plastic qualities that do not require firing.
True to his realistic approach, he has dedicated this new series of sculptures to the female body, a recurring theme in his work. A collection ‘all in transparency’, linked to his Plongeuses series, is currently on exclusive display at the ADOR gallery.
