Cesar SIMAO

Born in 1999 in France and a recent graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, César Simao is a painter whose authenticity is reflected in the very analogy between his work and his character— a blend of composure, mystery, and depth.

His intuitive approach is characterized by the accumulation in his unconscious of references, forms, and motifs that he encounters in daily life, the origins of which elude him. His process consists of three phases: the observation of these forms captured in the moment; automatic drawing as an initial expression of the obsessions and visions that pass through and inhabit him; and finally, the attempt to fix them onto the canvas—a complicated exercise, as it involves freezing the intangible, the fleeting thought, and the creative impulse.

Characterized by a subdued, muted color palette, his paintings are imbued with a timeless quality that gives them their unique aura. Drawing on motifs from Renaissance painting, they could easily blend into the Louvre’s Renaissance art galleries were it not for the fact that a closer look reveals clues in the background that catch the eye—such as the specter of New York skyscrapers.

Balancing on a fine line between tradition and postmodernity without ever resolving this contradiction, his paintings exert a fascination akin to that of mythological tales, as their creation stems from paths that lie beyond the realm of reason and time.

Among the works featured in this edition is Man Entering a Cauldron, a cliché that is as elusive as it is evocative, recalling numerous mythologies in which people who enter a pot, a crucible, or an oven emerge purified and transformed, as if being reborn into the world and into themselves.