FRANCOIS FRESSINIER

Francois Fressinier was born in Cognac, France on August 4, 1968. His parents were portrait photographers with businesses in Central Africa and the Charente Maritime region of France. His father had a tremendous reverence for the paintings of the Old Masters and guided his son into the exploration and creation of figurative and symbolic art. Drawing, painting and photography have been an integral part of his life from the very beginning.

Early in his youth, Fressinier was introduced to, and captivated by, many of the world's greatest historic places. Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and London were all at his doorstep. The peace and serenity of Roman ruins and Gothic churches are clearly conveyed in his work.

He studied advertising and fine art at the Ecole Brassart Technique et Privee in Tours, France near Paris, where he was exposed to the drawings, sketches and paintings of Rembrandt, Renoir, Courbet, Rubens and Delaunay.

After his relocation to the United States in 1987, he decided that the time was right for him to devote his life to painting. His move to Arizona, along with the dramatic change of environment and culture influenced him to paint what he felt, saw and envisioned.

The reclusive lifestyle that Francois first led as a result of being a stranger in America compelled him to study numerous artists and techniques.

The delicate hand of Fressinier is distinctly visible in his beautiful, sensitive renderings of humanity. His subjects primarily consist of Gallo-Roman imagery with embedded artifacts of the southwestern region of France.

Over the last decade, Francois has refined his artistic style. It has been described as a modern amalgam of Neo-Classical, Classical Renaissance and Romanticism. His work reflects the influence of Rubens and Titian through his focus on the ethereal, romantic presence of sensuous women.

"My objective is to render classical subjects into the present as homage to the Old Masters; the emotion that this brings to me is what I wish to convey on canvas."