Yann Kempen (1963) | French | Contemporary art

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Time passes but beauty remains. Defining himself as "amoureux de la femme", Yann Kempen paints women as he sees them, with a sensuality confining to eroticism. Inspired by the art of manga, he tranforms and idealises what could be regular teenagers into modern-day heroins that knows how to play with their charms.

Yann's work singles out from the manga by its focus on details, attitudes, or emotions felt by his subjects, rather than presenting a scene that alone could be perceived as flat or common. Further in that direction, Yann gives a unique depth to his paintings through the use of a thick patina that contrasts with the transparency of traditional manga pages. The spectator would expact to see balloons, but there are none here. The images he creates are both contemporary and atemporal, they speak for themselves.