"Spirit of the Field"

There is something unique in those furtive apparitions at the heart of the wheat fields. The roe buck surges up, freezes, and in that suspended instant between flight and curiosity, it becomes something other than an animal: a presence, a breath, a spirit of the wheat. This title does not describe a scene — it surpasses it.

Painting African animals occupies most of my work. But from time to time, I return to the wildlife that surrounds me, that of the forests and great French cereal plains. The roe deer — and in particular the buck in its summer coat — possesses a discreet, almost secret elegance that I have always wanted to capture.

For the composition, I wanted us to be immersed in the wheat, at the same level as the animal. The sea of stalks and ears of wheat occupies most of the frame, the buck barely emerging — as if appearing. This burial in vegetal matter was essential: it speaks of the roe deer's natural discretion, its way of belonging to the landscape.

The summer light, raking and warm, transforms the field into a palette of gold and rust — the same tones as the buck's summer coat. Oil paint, worked in the hyperrealist tradition, seeks here to blend the animal into its setting while revealing it: a contradiction that only painting can sustain.