artist/ CORDIER
France
Jean-Michel Cordier conceives painting as an instinctive language, a space of tension between what drives him internally and his perception of reality. His work is permeated by a quest: that of authenticity of gesture, sensory memory, and pictorial vibration.
His painting is gestural, physical, constructed in layers, scrapings, successive coverings, until he lets go. Each work becomes a place of exploration, a raw territory where the body expresses itself before the mind.
Deeply inspired by primitive arts, he uses masks, totems, and ritual figures not as decorative motifs, but as living symbols. These elements embody an ancestral memory, a silent spirituality, a relationship to the sacred and to transmission.
His series such as “Dandys,” “Masks,” and “Portraits – Primitive Arts” question notions of identity, cultural mixing, and human presence. Through them, he constructs a personal visual language, at the frontier between Art Brut, Expressionism, and emotional abstraction.
For Jean-Michel Cordier, painting is a vital act, a way of inhabiting the world with sincerity, strength, and openness.
Born into a family of professional painters, Jean-Michel Cordier grew up in an environment where the gaze, materials, and gestures played an essential role. Far from traditional academic paths, he developed a practice nourished by observation, experimentation, and a form of intuitive reflection.
Born in Burkina Faso, he was marked by a dual cultural heritage: African through his roots, European through his background. His childhood in Africa shaped his sensibility and nourished his artistic trajectory.
His analytical mind led him to pursue a scientific course of study. He obtained a master’s degree in mathematics and taught as a certified teacher in middle and high schools. This intellectual rigor shaped his relationship with the world.
He exhibits regularly in France and is represented by two galleries in Clermont-Ferrand and Corsica. His works are included in private collections in France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United States.
In 2025, the Edgar Mélik-Château Museum in Cabriès dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him entitled “Racines croisées” (Crossed Roots), bringing together some forty works in dialogue with the artistic heritage of the place.
