Jacques Merle

To Jacques Merle, landscapes of childhood seem to provide for a special haven. A space for expression and exploration he fills with figures – prince, knight, cowboy, bashful lover, lost boy – recurring like patterns in his entire work. Models of masculinity are dispersed by the numerous tales and legends for children and participate in creating an often biased collective imagination around the male figure.
Jacques Merle, as for him, defuses this heritage by perpetuating a childlike approach and sensitivity towards these characters.
He projects them into romantic spaces. Harmless spaces with a soft and cheerful colour palette where it is not a matter of
courage or bravery but of boredom, joy, melancholy, and wonder. These are also transitory spaces whose outlines are complicated to define, as if they were blurred by the dabs of paint and colour patches. Dream spaces indeed: magical, lyrical, fantastical dreams…
For the villa Noailles, he conceives of the initiatory journey of a young boy travelling fabulous worlds suffused with mysteries, guided by Marie-Laure de Noailles’ aura of benevolence throughout his adventure.

Fabrice Tayeau