My work today

I draw in all weather, in all seasons.

Outdoors, rain, sun, heat, and night leave their mark on my canvases. I paint on canvas using pigments, water, and natural elements.

These works lie at the boundary between abstraction and expressionism.

My wonder at nature and the forces that shape landscapes are the foundation of my artistic approach.

My name is Philippe Landry, and I am a visual artist.

My journey began in Lille, in northern France, then in Paris, where I studied at the École du Louvre.

After many trips around the world, I set up my studio near Hanoi.

I often paint outdoors, among the rocks, in the forest, by ponds, and on the hillside.

I am filled with wonder at my surroundings, at the beauty of this place that welcomes me.

The notion of wonder is at the heart of my approach; it leads me to perceive the sensitivity and fragility of my environment.

I work in sequences, during which I might spend weeks, months, or even years working on a single canvas.

Each painting begins with observational drawings, drawings that are like walks or attempts to establish a connection.

As I progress with a subject, I allow myself to be drawn in, I awaken my instinct, and my eye naturally gravitates toward an element, an emotion.

A series then unfolds, and I simply dedicate myself to it, armed with my memories, my trials, and my artistic experiments.

To draw outdoors, I have adopted the kneeling position;

it's like a welcoming posture.

In contact with the earth, I allow myself to be permeated by its vibrations and energy.

It's an opportunity for me to slow down, to stop, and to attune myself to my surroundings.

Connected with nature, all I have to do then is convey what I am experiencing.

On the canvas, the water and pigments blend together, transforming textures into landscapes.

I create protocols for action, which means speeds of execution, series of gestures.

It's like a choreography, and the artwork seems to emerge on its own.

As soon as one of my lines becomes too controlled, I question it and reintroduce chance into my strokes.

But this is irreversible, and it requires me to be quick, instinctive, precise, and alert to everything that arises.

I don't play with ideas, but with impulses and with a desire for total presence and disappearance.

The experience then continues in the studio, giving rise to large-format works.

They amplify my sensations and capture the landscapes in their immensity.

When I am within the studio walls, I paint the memory of my experiences outdoors, the emotions, the sensations of the wind on my skin, the heat, the music of the forest, and its scents.

Often, on these canvases, the lines and forms blur; the lines are no longer clearly visible, and it is no longer immediately apparent what I have done or in what order;

It is then that the canvas finishes itself.