PORTFOLIO : Paintings: HOLOBIONTS: SINGLE PIECE, FOR SALE ON THIS SITE, OR ON REQUEST, visible AT MY STUDIO IN LE Mans (France)
Welcome to my artist website, monorarts.com, under my artist name Monor (Franck Maunoury).
My artistic approach:
In my view, art elevates our humanity. To date, my artistic work has primarily explored the human condition through portraits, nudes, scenes of contemporary life, and significant events—whether individual or collective.
Recurring questions guide my artistic practice:
How do holobionts (humans, animals, plants, microorganisms) function together to form a unified whole—a kind of “supra-organism”?
What interactions do these holobionts have with their hosts and their respective environments?
How do they perceive themselves and other holobionts? Ultimately, are other holobionts simply us?
After an initial period of neo-expressionist drawing and painting, my current approach blends academicism with what New York–based art critic Joslin Van Arsdale (former Christie’s, New York) described as “minimalist realism,” following her evaluation of my portrait paintings on December 10, 2024.
This first phase of creative and exploratory research is the result of a period of self-directed learning, followed by six years of formal training in drawing, painting, and art history at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, then at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École Schlum in Le Mans. This was further complemented by a year of intensive academic training in drawing and painting, based on the methodology of the Kyiv Academy of Fine Arts.
This technical foundation, enriched by my personal and professional experiences, allows me to explore the questions raised above within our contemporary context.
In my future work, I aim to draw and paint the contemporary life of holobionts (humans, animals, plants, microorganisms)—a concept inspired by biological research that studies the interactions between an organism, its host, and its environment.
By analogy, I question humanity’s relationship with itself, with others, with animals, with plants, with its microcosm, and more broadly with its macrocosm.
Through my painting, I seek to capture reality as I perceive it. This pursuit requires a constant dialogue between art, science, and perception.
My academic background in mathematics, economics, and visual arts, as well as frequent exchanges with a close friend who is a research professor at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, form an important foundation for deepening this research.
However, logic and knowledge alone are not enough—feeling and emotional engagement remain essential.
When I paint, an intense emotional and physical connection emerges from my creative process. Watching a face appear on the canvas is a profoundly powerful experience.
This need to share a personal emotion so that it may become collective lies at the heart of my practice.
Painting, through its mystical power, connects us to one another.
That is why the life of holobionts in our contemporary context remains the central focus of my artistic research.
Original artworks, offered as one-of-a-kind pieces, are available for purchase directly on my website monorarts.com, or upon request. They may also be viewed at my studio in Le Mans by appointment (CONTACT menu). All works are dated, signed, and delivered with a certificate of authenticity.