This self-taught visual artist creates transparent compositions, incorporating preserved insects and everyday objects.

Born in 1959, Jean-Luc Maniouloux grew up in the South of France. As an adult, he decided to pursue studies in advertising and moved to Paris, a city he never left, where he graduated from ENSAM (Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Modernes de Paris).

Working in the field of medical illustration for many years, Jean-Luc Maniouloux regularly visited the operating rooms of Parisian hospitals. Later, he turned to publishing, where the illustrator revealed a preference for representing nature and animals. For the past decade, he has been fully and exclusively dedicated to his artistic practice.

His series “Impacts” originated from an initial experimental venture where the artist created a small composition depicting a hornet colliding with a tile, causing a crack. It has now evolved into multiple scenes, as poetic as they are surreal.

These works are made of glass plates carefully embedded in a plexiglass case, a unique technique that creates the illusion of freezing movement, akin to a three-dimensional photographic snapshot. However, the artist’s virtuosity lies in his ability to awaken the viewer’s senses, turning this frozen image into an almost animated piece: when the stimulated imagination extends the action in thought, all it takes is to listen carefully to perceive the sound produced by this collision.

Choosing to make the insect the central character of his compositions, despite being often unloved, the artist opts for a bold stance that was nevertheless evident to him. It was while exploring cabinets of curiosities in his youth that Jean-Luc Maniouloux discovered entomology, a discipline that fascinated him and about which he spoke in these words:

“Entomology is not just about pinning insects in boxes; it is about becoming aware of the incredible richness of a world often hidden and under threat in recent times.” – Jean Luc Maniouloux