Biographical information/Professional background
Jean-Michel Letellier discovers the paper at the age of 34; between 1988 and 1992, it is one of the founders of both shops Calligrane in Paris dedicated to the paper and to the luxury stationery. Fascinated by the extraordinary diversity of the natural fibers, his explorations in the domain lead him towards the Asian continent and he flies away towards Japan in 1997. It is to the Hall of Japanese Hand Made Paper that he is introduced to the Japanese techniques of manufacturing of the paper with master “alive national Treasury ” Minoru Fujimori.
Prize-winner of a grant of the A.F.A.A in 1999, he is invited in residence in the Villa Kujoyama to Kyoto where he directs his searches to the manufacturing of sheets with watermarks. Then another residence in the village of Imadate, cradle of the Japanese paper for 1.500 years, leads him towards a technique of inclusion of diverse materials.
The main part of his work is realized at the time of the manufacturing of the paper, with fiber of mulberry tree; it is with the contemporary approach that he plays on the thickness, the transparency, the coloring of the dough by ochre: the paper crosses in rhizome, black lands replace the India ink.
Since 2001, he exposes his work in numerous galleries, in France as abroad (London, Geneva) and in museums (Japan, Lithuania). He also participated in the Festival of Gardens in Chaumont sur Loire in 2010, as well as in the art fair « Revelations » in 2015.
The French Arts Factory presents the artworks of the artist on the occasion of the exhibition “Vegetal Universe ” in January 2016.