"Even in a wilted flower you can find beauty". This quote by Damien Cabanes, taken from issue 93 of Art Absolument magazine, published in the summer of 2020 and dedicated to artists during the period of confinement, testifies to the painter's recent quest, through a fascination with the life cycle of the flower, or rather flowers, as the motif is reinvented in series. "Flowers" captures Cabanes' very personal vision of beauty, promoting a raw and melancholy aesthetic, whether in a bouquet or on a garment worn by a lonely figure. The shapes and colors evolve with the changing light in the artist's studio, where he paints to the point of vegetal fanatics. The passage of time is palpable, as the ephemeral nature of the subject is combined with the painter's fleeting touch. The grandeur of the canvases completes the homage paid to the still life, by transcribing the essence of the flower in a monumental way.


Maëva Markl