Born in 1980 in Versailles, Laurent Proux lives and works in Paris. He is a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and Hamburg. Through painting and drawing, he produces powerful and original imagery that explores the tensions between the human body and its environment, whether industrial or natural.
His large-scale paintings oscillate between realistic depictions of the body at work, captured within its production setting, and deconstructed bodies in lascivious poses with elongated limbs, clustering amidst a teeming natural world that seems to engulf them. Straddling figuration and abstraction, his works blend blurred perspectives, vivid and artificial colours, and overlapping planes, the whole forming a composition that is powerful, subtly political, and rarely innocent.
For the exhibition Ground Melody, the artist continues her exploration through the creation of paintings and engravings inspired by images gathered in the gardens of the city of Caen and enriched by encounters with those who tend them.
Laurent Proux – Les jours et les heures. Le travail. Place de la Liberté, La Guérinière, Caen, 2026, Photo : Pauline Assathiany Courtesy Semiose, Paris
For Laurent Proux, the garden is an ambiguous landscape. At first glance, it evokes a sense of calm—a domesticated, well-tended space, pleasing to the eye. But the viewer soon notices a kind of resistance: the plants are overgrown, perspectives become blurred and boundaries fade. It is no longer such a tamed
space, but one where humans are constantly obliged to negotiate their presence. As if nature, so patiently contained, were reclaiming its rights in the interstices of the visible.
His characters inhabit these gardens without ever really owning them. They are present, but not quite in control. Their gestures are suspended in time, there gazes elsewhere. They seem absorbed by their surroundings; the vegetation becomes a part of their inner selves. Or perhaps it’s the opposite way around,
and the garden is acting as a clouded mirror, reflecting their vague states of mind, their obscure desires, or a form of latent unease.
Laurent Proux – Out of the Blue, 2025, Photo : Margot Montigny Courtesy Semiose, Paris
Intrigued by our intrusive meandering and frequent stops at almost every plot, with our cell phones to hand, the early-morning gardeners, wrapped up in thick coats, watch us from a distance, a little suspicious—“What are those to up to? What are they after?” We approach them with broad smiles on our faces and start conversations about the unpredictability of the weather—“It’s been raining but the soil is still too dry…”—and activities to come—“It’s the period for clearing and tilling the soil…” It’s obvious we’re not really at home here. The rhythm is different as are the habits… There’s a different kind of resistance. But they’re still
interested in us—“Come back whenever you want, I can easily find something for you to do…”
While at this time of day the allotments are full of gentle activity, there are other “dormant” green spaces, of which the city has a fair number, and which contribute to its unique charm. These are former cemeteries closed to new burials, and where nature has reclaimed the space. I describe to the artist the romantic charm of these vast gardens where, beneath the shade of tall trees neglected, overgrown graves lie dormant.
Laurent Proux – Les jours et les heures. Efflam en rêve. Cimetière dormant Saint-Nicolas, Caen,
2026, Photo : Pauline Assathiany Courtesy Semiose, Paris
Indeed, for Laurent Proux, the garden is not a reflection of an orderly paradise, but rather that of a fragile balance. Set between dominance and abandonment, cultivated land and untamed nature, the artist paints this in-between space, where humans no longer exercise full control, but co-exist, sometimes awkwardly, with that which surpasses them. Thus, his gardens are not places of rest, but places governed by a gentle tension. One feels time passing, slowly, through the thick foliage and the intense light. And within this suspended moment in time, an unanswered question persists, about how we inhabit our world.
Yvan Poulain, director & curator of the exhibition
Laurent Proux – The Carlisle Chimney, 2026 , Photo : Pauline Assathiany Courtesy Semiose, Paris
Normandie Impressionniste Festival
In 2010, the idea arose in Normandy to create an event to celebrate the Norman territory while highlighting the Impressionist heritage as well as the vitality of the contemporary art scene. Normandy is a land of inspiration, as evidenced by its Impressionist heritage as well as the vitality of its contemporary art scene.
With a decidedly multidisciplinary approach, Normandie Impressionniste celebrates this richness by inviting visitors to discover artistic creation from Impressionism to the present day and encouraging them to visit art and cultural venues throughout Normandy.
Building on the success of its record-breaking 2024 edition, which attracted over 2 million visitors, the Normandy Impressionist Festival returns from May 29 to September 27, 2026 for its 6th edition.
The year 2026 marks a major moment in art history: the centenary of Claude Monet’s death in Giverny. For forty-three years, Monet shaped his garden as a living work of art, composed with botanical touches, attentive to light, water, and the metamorphoses of living things. This garden, both real and dreamlike, helped propel his painting towards abstraction and pave the way for modernity.
July 4 – October 17, 2026
Opening: Saturday, July 4 starting from 5pm
L’Artothèque, Espace d’art contemporain de Caen – more info here
Impasse Duc Rollon
14 000 Caen
Free admission from Tuesday to
Saturday, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
[As part of Normandie Impressionniste 2026.]. – more info Here
