EXHIBITION ‘ODYSSÉE TERRESTRE’ BY JOSEPH FOXONET

As part of Expo66, the Château Royal de Collioure is hosting the exhibition ‘Odyssée terrestre’ by Joseph Foxonet – From 14 June to 1 September 2024

‘On a late winter's day in 1994, I was finishing pruning my Carignan vineyard when I was struck by the light emanating from the ground, like light from within the earth.

I was already a painter, so I wanted to capture this impression. I picked up some of this earth and, further on, some red earth from Salses le Château, I knew the black earth from Espira de l'Agly, so I filled a can with it and then some beige earth from Sigean.

It was from this muted palette that I began to paint with earths, then with sands and minerals picked up here and there for their colours, sieved, glued and spread with a knife on canvas… Later, after about thirty still-life paintings, I presented my work to the Perpignan gallery owner Thérèse Roussel, who strongly encouraged me to persevere, promising to show my work in her gallery from 1997.

This was followed by another exhibition in 1999 on the theme of passion, and then a permanent exhibition in Paris for 15 years at the Galerie du Musée, rue des Francs-Bourgeois.

In 2017, I won the genre painter prize at the Salon des Beaux Arts at the Carrousel du Louvre, and in 2019 the bronze medal… In summer 2018, a major exhibition was held at the Palace of the Kings of Majorca in Perpignan.

Since 2021 I have been a ceramic artist in residence at Sant Vicens in Perpignan, where last December I presented my most recent paintings at the Cave Musée.’

Joseph Foxonet peasant painter