About the artist

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At the tender age of 11, Philippe Funk discovered his passion for painting, at a small painting school in Luxembourg. He stayed there for two years, learning the basics, as well as the first approaches to still life techniques.

Later on, he pursued comic drawing courses, which will change his way of "seeing things". He learns to dive into other dimensions, where he will try out new things. He begins to experiment and combine different techniques, which will lead him to not paint patterns but to superimpose different layers. In 2001, he moves to Paris, to deepen his technical knowledge. Having traveled a lot throughout the world, he doesn´t find his place and leaves the design path. During this period, he didn´t paint at all.

After regaining his artistic freedom, in 2003, he sets himself a challenge: using all possible techniques except painting brushes and palettes. It means creating his colors starting from pure pigments and mixing them with all possible elements, layering, and drawing for the first time black pen comic style on abstract paintings. That´s where his unique ART BRUT painting style is created. He meets the painter Zwy Milshtein, whom he follows with his experience.

A few years later, back home, he continues his chromatic research, as well as the limits between figurative and abstract art, and prepares his first exhibition for the year 2004/2005.

Since then, several exhibitions have followed each other: from trendy places to exhibitions within banks.

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Artistic approach

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The essence of my artistic approach is to respect the great painters without consciously drawing inspiration from them. My art is abstract and figurative at the same time!

I do not use a brush or a palette; contact and precision of gestures are required. From a methodological standpoint, I start from abstract to figurative, based on a 3 layer approach.

I create my colors from scratch: start with pure pigments and mixing them up with different elements. I layer colors to create my 3 layer approach.

1. When you get close to the painting, you will see all the colors in their splendor, as if you are contemplating the beauty of the universe.

2. When going back by ½ a meter, we'll see all the comic drawings that, drawn by black felt pen. The material thus makes the shapes and reflections appear. The distribution of shapes and masses plays an important role in my works. 

3. Retreating 2 meters, one can see the large shapes that dominate the picture.  

The subjects used are omnipresent in the history of mankind. The choice of impersonal and timeless titles is primordial because, for my part, the artist tries to place himself in the position of an observer.

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"To me, painting means unleashing yourself and deep intellectual about a precise subject."