A collection of highly recognizable characters populates Christian Charrière’s paintings. Screen stars and rock icons are depicted with all the detail a portrait photographer would give them.

The artist’s skill at capturing the personality of his subjects gives each image an echo of the familiar, while his subtle color palette and varied textures lift them beyond duplication. His subjects have a quality of simultaneously posing and being caught unaware, giving his paintings an immediacy that is tempered by a strong sense of formal composition. Working in oils on canvas, Charrière employs a palette dominated by greys. “I strongly control grey colors,” the artist says, and in his work they take on a degree of variety matching that of paintings that use a far broader spectrum of colors. Equally impressive is the way in which he handles light. From cigarette smoke to reflections in a pair of eyeglasses, the varied qualities of light and how they animate faces 11and the spaces around them result in paintings that bring those faces alive while placing them firmly in the artist’s personal world.

About Author

Monique Turbé grew up in a family of five children. Before becoming a respected hotelier, her father, Guy Turbé, was one of the first contractors on the Island. At the age of 18, Monique Turbé started her first construction, like her father, the “White Sand Beach Cottages, in Flamands. This property attracted prestigious guests, like Jackie Kennedy-Onassis and her son John-John, or Roman Polanski. In 2013, the Villa Mélissa was sold to a Venezuelan couple that fell in love with the property. Monique then decided to buy and renovate a new property that she called like her granddaughter: the “Villa Lenalee”. With this new property, Monique Turbé, created MY VILLA IN ST- BARTH, an exclusive concierge service dedicated to her two private villas. One of Guy Turbé’s last dreams was to see Monique create her own real estate company to look after the villas he had built and carry on the legacy. As an homage to her beloved father, she became the founder, chairman and partner of MY VILLA IN ST BARTH Real Estate, the first real estate agency founded by a St-Barths native and a villas owner.

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