Born in 1979 in Dijon to an anesthesiologist father and an artist mother, the budding artist grew up in a Franco-Algerian culture and was introduced to drawing and illustration at a very young age. During school-free days, he would draw and paint in his mother’s studio. After studying humanities and fine arts in Bordeaux, he dedicated himself entirely to painting and sculpture, following the paths of poetic reverie. “I work in my studio, painting in oil on canvas, but starting from preparatory observation sketches that I do outdoors,” said François Kobtane. “I like to bring a predetermined part of the process and a touch of chance into my paintings.”
“Sunlit Canvases”
“I discovered François Kobtane’s paintings in his studio,” said Zane Lukina, exhibitions manager at the Jean-Eustache cinema during the vernissage on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. “The pictorial representation of the sun is a difficult subject, and François dares to paint it with talent in his paintings. One also feels the lightness of the poetry he draws inspiration from, as if he had preserved his childlike gaze.”
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