ATLAS

Born on September 19th, 1968, in La Flèche, (Department of La Sarthe, France), Francky Criquet comes from humble origins. Grandson and son of a family of scrap metal merchants / second hand goods dealers, he shows an interest in painting and drawing from a very early age. On reaching his majority, Francky Criquet moves away from his hometown to Nantes where he sets to work restoring old paintings for antiques dealers and museums on a national scale. More particularly, during this period he also focuses on his own works – research, drawings, sculpture – landing himself various exhibitions in Nantes, Angers and Paris. His free time is given over to poetry, a love of theatre and short stories as well as the painting classes he gives as part of a desire to exchange with other artists (1993: Atelier Les Transbordeurs, Nantes, France, 1993 – 1994 : Atelier la Gobretière, Nantes, France (M. Bouron), 1993 – 1994 : Atelier D’art D’art, Nantes, France). At the beginning of 1995 Francky Criquet leaves France for Andalusia, Spain, where he meets several well-known artists and namely, Julio Fernandez Ceballos alongside whom he works for one year (oil painting, acrylic painting, engraving). He then leaves Spain for England where he concentrates on figurative works using live models. During this time he produces more than 300 paintings, most of which are later sold in the United States. On his return to France at the end of 1996, Francky Criquet turns his hand to a completely different project: the architecture and rehabilitation of a troglodytic site in the Department of Maine and Loire in France, home of his future studio. (Surface rehabilitated: 600m² along with the design and realisation of a glass dome standing 10 metres high and boasting a circumference of 12 meters). In 2003 he exhibits in Brazil (permanent exhibition at the French Embassy in Sao Paolo), in The Netherlands (permanent exhibition in Megen) and in Italy, a country in which his works are shown on several occasions. 2004 marks his arrival on the American art market with sales in New York and the establishment of a permanent exhibition in Miami. Lastly, in 2005, at an exhibition in Shanghai, China, he signs an exclusivity contract for Asia with an internationally recognised museum / gallery present in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Since this time, he is a regular visitor to China, where he paints in local studios, the subsequent works being integrated into permanent collections.