Who is Sebastien?
Sébastien Le Guen searched a long time for the right training. From the experimental Lycée de Sevres to the Ecole Nationale Supérieur d’Architecture, in order to follow in his father’s footstep, but immediately dropped because he found he would rather paint in the architectural studios. He tried the Beaux Arts school of Cergy-Pontoise, but that did not feel right either. Finally, he enrolled at La Villa d’Arçon (Nice), a contemporary art university, where during five years of training, he met and worked with such artists as Paul McCarthy and Felice Varini. Graduating in 1996, he has since deepened his research from Paris to New York, finding inspirations in both urban cultures.
His first works, exhibited in 1991, situate him in the linage of the lettriste Isodore Isou. He reproduces bar menus with their yellowed pages, collages of big brands publicity, and in place of orders, traces a few words in a quick writing: often a poem in the shape of a “cadavre exquis”, in the Dada spirit.