Joel Person

Joël Person was born in 1962 in Abidjan. A painter and draftsman, he graduated from the Beaux-Arts of Paris with honors from the jury.

The artist initially focused on portraiture before turning to themes of horses and erotic poses. He is aware of the pitfalls of virtuosity and seeks the moment where the nerve impulse, the burst of life, will subvert the meticulous framework of figuration. Saturated with energy, the horse's body has provided him with the experience of overflow and submersion for twenty years. However, Person is also a draftsman of the human figure. To defy his own figurative technique, he anticipates the breaking point in the static ritual of the pose. This moment where the model rears back and flees elsewhere, he captures it everywhere and nowhere: a contraction of the forehead, a twist of the shoulder, a tilt of the face.

The artist has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in France and China and has repeatedly participated in residencies abroad (multiple times in China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland, Slovenia, Switzerland...). His work is spread across numerous private collections (notably Hermes collection, Moleskine) and has been acquired by museums (Jenisch Museum in Vevey). His monograph "And there is no longer room for fear" was published by Les Cahiers dessinés in 2022. In 2023, he participated in the first Arles Drawing Festival (tribute to Sempé) with 4 highly acclaimed exhibitions. He was re-invited in 2024 for live drawing coverage of the festival to be exhibited at the 2025 edition.