Franck Ayroles, born in 1975, is a professional visual artist, originally from Saint-Nazaire and currently based in Niort.
He first studied in the advertising and cinema, work as a production designer on several medium-length films including one with actor Philippe Lemaire.
In 1998, he devoted himself to painting, a passion that has followed him since a young age. In 2001, Franck Ayroles left for other horizons, including several long stays in Madagascar with the Alliances Françaises.
In 2003, the Château de Bressuire devoted a retrospective to him. In 2004, the General Council of Deux-Sèvres ordered the creation of a sports trophy under the sponsorship of Dominique Rocheteau. He created a traveling installation composed of large paintings two meters high which, since 2005, has traveled across France passing through prestigious places and supported by the Center des Monuments de France, museums and cultural centers.
Several times invited on our small screens in the France 2 show presented by Catherine Ceylac, alongside Fanny Cottençon, Anne Hidalgo, Fadela Amara in 2006, with Ariane Ascaride in 2008, Elisabeth Badinter in 2010 and Professor René Frydman in 2012. In 2007, a publisher dedicated a book to her entitled “Women” covering her ten years of creations. In 2010, he organized with MAIF a writing contest for the subject of his second book “Moms” prefaced by the actress Isabelle Carré.
In 2015, his third work “Childhood Memories” was released with the collaboration of Zazie and Stéphane Bern.
He devotes a large part of his paintings and sculptures to women symbols of femininity and motherhood. Mysterious and imaginary, these women all have common traits: they do not possess no face, their clothes are very colorful and their pronounced curves.
“When I was a kid, I wanted to be a designer. I continued to draw, but always with the desire to go to the essential in my line. Initially, only the body or rather the appearance of my characters matters to me, their actions and their determinations are my main allies. Whether in one direction or another, they have chosen to take a direction, showing their desire to always move forward by giving the appearance of being sure of themselves. A certain serenity emerges in the attitude. This obviously all makes sense to me. They choose to face everyday life, to take responsibility for their choices. They are loving, mothers, sisters, girlfriends, naughty… They are certainly not perfect. They just want to live free. »
Franck Ayroles reveals that this choice of subject is not due to simple chance. Its paintings and sculptures reveal its history. At first, he painted dark and nostalgic couples following the loss of parents. When he met his wife, he wanted to pay homage to her by painting very colorful, multicultural, mixed, cheerful and bright women like her.
The desire to start a family led him to reproduce motherhood with pregnant women. Then he does evolve his characters to the rhythm of his personal life by representing the mother-child relationship, a consequence of the birth of her first child.
He plays with volumes, geometry and colors. The title of his paintings is a first name in order to offer those discovering the work total freedom of feeling and expression.
The commitment to sincerely engaging in his paintings has allowed him to maintain a style unity. In this way, it also affects everyone's privacy. Spectators confront the universal themes of femininity and motherhood and are led to relate these realities to their personal and intimate lives. Thus, Franck Ayroles stimulates theexchange between the work and the spectator and creates a special or even exclusive relationship between the two.
From the model to the conquest of Niort
In the summer of 2015, the artist submitted his work for popular opinion by exhibiting a model at the CGR cinema de Niort. After more than 3000 messages encouraging his approach, he set out in search of patrons to finance his installation.
But, at the end of 2016, the Dames de la Brèche came to a standstill despite a promise of €10.000 made by the city center district council out of the €60.000 forecast cost.
The project was relaunched at the end of 2017, with the crowdfunding campaign proposing that the names of the most generous donors be painted on the dress of one of the ladies.
The budget was finally finalized in June 2018 thanks to the subsidy from the neighborhood council, subscription on ulule.com and the support of professional partners for logistics and the handling of certain materials.
Franck Ayroles expresses the wish that the group of sculptures be placed at the top of the Breach, between the two emergences. But he suffered a refusal from the architect Jean-François Milou on the grounds that it would cut off the perspective between rue Ricard and avenue de Limoges. In 2018, the architect of the buildings of France gave his agreement for an installation on Place du Temple, but, due to lack of sufficient perspective, the idea was aborted. Finally, the sculpture will be unveiled on 30th November 2019, To thecorner of rue du 14-Juillet and avenue des Martyrs de la Résistance with, behind them, the perspective of Brèche gardens.
For the design of the work, the artist put together a team of skills, people qualified in fields very far from art, but who can easily adapt to the technical and security requirements for a monumental work. He is accompanied on this adventure by his friend Fabien Nourrisson accustomed to collaborating with big names in art such as the sculptor Etienne or the artist Richard Texier.
As for the realization of galvanized steel bench, measuring nearly 4 m long and 80 centimeters wide, Franck Ayroles joined forces with the Forezienne sheet metal work, a subsidiary of the Poujoulat company located near Saint-Etienne, specializing in street furniture.
TF also designed the entire stainless steel structure positioned inside the two sculptures in order to consolidate the elements, as well as the hat designed in the same material. Its frame was reinforced with fiber resin by Art Pro Composite based at the Rorthais economic park.
The Ladies of the Breach
This urban sculpture represents two multicultural women two meters and twenty tall sitting on a bench.
This work is highly symbolic since it evokes theexchange, the communication between people, communities, the tolerance symbolized by two women of different colors who are conversing. They unite the two northern and southern hemispheres.
This sculpture has considerable importance in my artistic life because it sums up what I have stood for through my work for over 25 years
These ladies invite passers-by to sit with them, for a break, a discussion or a photo. His ladies are a original marker at the top of the Brèche gardens.
Since its installation and thanks to social networks, the photos of the “Dames de la Brèche” travel all over the world and makes the city of Niort.
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