Welcome to the garden #3 – Guest artist : Simon de la Porte

The Châteauvert contemporary art center invites for the third edition of Welcome to the Simon de la Porte garden to present a series of drawings bringing nature into the art center, nature which he describes as “best tv in the world”. These drawings take place in a new exhibition space on the first floor of the art center that the team has named RECTO VERSO and which will regularly host exhibitions and restitutions of educational projects..

The drawings of Simon de la Porte are deceptively naive. Made with felt on small formats, they are a poetic reading of a contemporary world that is being devoured little by little by nature, contrary to the current climaticide. The landscapes it represents are steeped in French or European culture, easily recognizable by vintage vehicles from the years 80 that he likes to draw. The white plastic chair, essential figure of a popular art of living, also haunts his drawings. Et, if there are many males, there are almost no female characters represented in the drawings of Simon de la Porte because the artist considers that he draws too badly. He is afraid of “miss them”. Eventually, the drawings of Simon de la Porte lead through these motifs, forms and medium a feeling of familiarity but also of nostalgia which of a sweet nostalgia which make them infinitely endearing.

Andmy door (1976), graduated from LISAA Paris (1999), is a graphic designer, photo editor and draftsman. In 2014, he goes back to drawing with a felt-tip pen, followed by several other projects until
Today. He is notably co-organizer of the contemporary drawing festival VRRRAIMENT! in Toulon.
He grew up in Normandy, spent twenty years in Paris, going on a big trip to Asia, and finally he settled in Toulon.