Paris-based artist Bertrand Flachot fuses photography and drawing in his collection of beautifully complex landscapes. Artworks featuring cities, mountains, and rolling hills begin as colorful photos that are then drawn over with the fluid marks of a pen. It's reminiscent of something you'd find in a sketchbook as Flachot includes lines and objects that weren't in the original photographs.
With these handcrafted additions, the artist is creating similar-feeling, yet entirely different locales. Sometimes, this means carving new pathways and vegetation, while other times Flachot's etchings seem to signify routes already traveled. This is especially true about the cityscapes – with every criss-crossing, jagged line, it's mapping the former paths of cars and pedestrians.
Flachot's inspiration for these works comes from a personal tragedy. In February of 1990, his entire artistic production was destroyed in a fire. All he was left with were memories. But instead of wallowing, Flachot felt empowered, and he used art to reflect on the situation. The lines, to him, are symbols of memories that are constantly reimagining a place's past and present.
Bertrand Flachot's website
Bertrand Flachot's page on Galerie Felli website
via [Optically Addicted]
