Yves Chaudouët

Yves Chaudouët, like many of us, documents and catalogues his everyday life in the form of journaling. That form, however, is where his journaling varies from our own. Chaudouët’s journaling is visual: using monotypes, a delicate printmaking technique, the Paris-born artist captures snapshots of his day-to-day life that feel at once uniquely lived, and yet familiar enough to remain relatable. From staring up at a starry sky with a partner on a summer night, to walking alone through a desolate landscape, Chaudouët captures more than just everyday scenes; he also captures a spectrum of emotions within them. After all, isn’t that the key point of journaling at its most distilled – it is our way of expressing our emotions, development, and growth, masked behind what we did, not how it changed us. Chaudouët unlocks that deeper facet of journaling by interrogating it visually. Already, very few can do this in their art; almost none can do so with the delicacy that the monotype demands, and that Chaudouët achieves. Reseau Documents D’artistes quotes Sophie Kaplan, director of La Criée – centre d’art de la Ville de Rennes, who posits that “the actual medium of his pieces is the creative process itself”. We see this well in his monotype series - the fastidious creative process of which allows Chaudouët to use the medium to springboard into richly emotive scenes and subjects alike.
 
Chaudouët trained at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA) in Paris, graduating in 1985. He has taught Fine Arts at various arts schools in Nîmes, Angoulême-Poitiers, Pau-Tarbes and also the École nationale supérieure d’art in Limoges since 2017.