Melik Lequin is a self-taught French Parisian based visual artist and illustrator. Through his abstract, minimalist and colorful painting he takes an unstructured and poetic look at the world. His work aims to celebrate the beauty of its surroundings and emotions.
How did you get into art?
My journey into the art world is both very natural and much unexpected at once. Very natural because as far as I can remember I’ve always been a drawing person. I’m also lucky enough to have been growing up in a country where museums and art were around the corner. So combined with my parents' deep understanding and love for culture and creativity, it definitely shaped my tastes and me being in the art world today feels very natural.
On the other hand, it is very much unexpected because, my life and my business career brought me far away from the art world for decades. Surprisingly (or not), Covid was the opportunity that finally led me to reconnect with my art and allowed me to start sharing it to the world.
How would you describe your style? What makes your work special?
Always challenging to answer such a question… I would say that I try to express the feelings of life in an abstract and minimalistic ways while using pop colors as an emotional and expressive language.
How do you go about developing your work?
I’ve been working a lot on movements and landscapes while I tend now to explore body shapes in a minimal and abstract way. I like my work to stay spontaneous so I often let myself jump from a medium to another, from a technique to another and see what is popping up out of it. For me it’s all about exploration without boundaries.
Who or what influences you?
I’m an intuitive person, so my art is first and foremost influenced by my life and my experiences. At the same time, it is fair to say that the flavors of the south of France, the Mediterranean lifestyle and architecture in general have a big impact on my work. From an historical standpoint, I would say that my artistic language has been nourished throughout the process by a wide range of artists and Art Movements, from Matisse to Basquiat, from Bauhaus to Cubism, from Mondrian to Etel Adnan.
Make us curious. What is planned next?
I’ll Keep on exploring new creative grounds, for sure. I do have a new series of paintings coming up later this year and at the same time, some very cool collaborations with brands are in the pipe.
