The artist behind Marabout

 

My name is Xavier Marabout. Marabout is not a pseudonym but my real surname, you couldn't make it up! I was born in 1967, on a Friday the 13th! A lucky day, as I showed a true talent for drawing and painting very early on. I had my first exhibition in 1984 at the Goguet gallery in Evreux. However, at first, a completely different path awaited me. In 1990, after studying science and business, I became a sales engineer, without ever stopping painting and organizing private exhibitions.

In 2006, I changed direction, registered with the Maison des Artistes, and turned my passion into a job. My pictorial approach can be placed within the pop surrealist movement (Lowbrow art link?) born in the 1980s in California. The absurd and the grotesque became my driving forces.

Each canvas is conceived and constructed like a humorous scene from a contemporary tale. The tension in the characters' gazes, the breaks in borrowings from famous painters, the nostalgic atmosphere, and the unusual details invite the viewer to reconstruct an intimate narrative between humor and poetry.

Thus, my paintings play in turn with enchanting diversions, disguised heroes, and deconstructed pop culture. This audacious approach even led to a long, publicized lawsuit in 2017 concerning my Hergé Hopper series, against the unyielding former S.A. Moulinsart, which manages the rights to Tintin.

In short, I simply try to be an artist of our time, a time that's topsy-turvy...

 

STUDIO :

33 rue de la Masse 56370 Sarzeau

 

PERMANENT GALLERIES:

Galerie DEZA - Roanne and Lyon

Galerie PRESTART - Uzès and Biarritz

 

MAIN EXHIBITIONS:

Affordable Art Fair - Brussels, Milan, Hamburg, Maastricht, Amsterdam.

Art 3 F Fair - Mulhouse - Luxembourg, Lausanne, Paris, Lyon, Nice, Nantes, Toulouse.

Lille and Montpellier Art up Fairs.

Sm’art - Aix en Provence

St’Art - Strasbourg

Cénac Foundation Biennales - TARBES

Puls’Art - Le Mans

L’Hermine Cultural Center - Sarzeau