The Labenche Museum in Brive, France, has launched its inaugural artist residency program by welcoming painter Nicolas Marciano, a master of blurred artistic technique, along with his well-behaved canine companion. This groundbreaking residency marks the first time the museum has opened its doors to visual arts, as the program was previously dedicated exclusively to literature and writing.
Marciano's work challenges traditional viewing habits through his distinctive blurred painting technique, which he considers far more than a simple artistic method. "I find that people no longer take the time to look at painting. Often, they consume it like an image. So my idea was to disturb the gaze, to make people stop and ask questions," the artist explained. His meticulous creative process involves layering paint color by color, allowing the viewer's eye to recompose the image based on individual interpretation.
During his residency, conducted as part of the museum's temporary exhibition "Natural Corrèze," Marciano has been painting landscapes of the Planchetorte Valley. He works both from photographs he has taken and directly on location, exploring what he considers landscape painting to be a legitimate artistic subject rather than a minor genre. The residency aims to create dialogue between ancient and contemporary art forms.
The artist's blurred landscapes reflect the uncertainty characterizing our current era in their own unique way. Marciano was particularly struck by evidence of environmental challenges in the Planchetorte Valley during his artistic exploration. "I had the impression that the summer was hard. There were many trees that fell, others that were damaged by hail. In some paths, you could no longer pass. I told myself that a change was underway, that it needed to be represented," he observed. During his outdoor excursions, he also decided to create a series focusing on the luminescent plants of the Planchetorte Valley.
Museum Director Vincent Rigau-Jourjon acknowledged the unusual nature of hosting a living artist, noting with humor, "We're more used to exhibiting dead artists." The residency presented an unexpected logistical challenge regarding Marciano's canine companion. "We wondered how to welcome an artist with a dog," the director explained. "But since the animal is super well-trained, it posed no problem. Here, we usually only receive service dogs, like guide dogs for the blind. In this specific case, we considered it an artist's assistance dog."
Marciano brings impressive credentials to the residency, having trained at the Fine Arts school in Brest and earned a master's degree in visual arts from the Panthéon Sorbonne University in Paris. As both a draftsman and painter, he previously presented an exhibition titled "From Fantasy to Totem" at the Saint-Libéral Chapel in 2020. His artistic work notably explores "the repercussions of climate disruption on future generations, highlighting the experience of childhood." One of his new creations from the residency will be hung in the museum this week, enriching the ongoing temporary exhibition.
