The tender painting of Tony Bosc, the child of Pointe Courte

Tony Bosc dans son atelier-garage de Sète. Hélène Amiraux

Les personnages truculents du peintre sétois Tony Bosc sont devenus iconiques.

An old sofa at the back of a small garage opening onto an alley in Le Barrou. An easel, and a few rap notes for a relaxed atmosphere. Here we are in the creative lair of Tony Bosc, 36 years old. It's almost like we're at Pointe Courte, for him “a vital place”. The family cradle of the artist from Sète, who has become iconic on the Singulière Island. It's impossible to miss his gallery of rosy-skinned characters, emblematic of the city. Fishermen, jousters and all their friends, often identifiable by their outfits and headgear, happily mingle on the walls of K-live on rue du Passage or above the counters of Sète's party venues. The artist immerses himself in the unique life of Sète. “What inspires me the most is my family, my entourage”, he confides, Brassens too. From a furtive sketch born “after a big night out” about ten years ago, the Sète native now makes complex canvases, in demand beyond the borders of Saint-Clair where he grew up.

“During an evening out with friends”

We can say that Tony Bosc fell into the drawing pot at a young age. “I was quite impulsive so to channel myself my grandmother got me into drawing. I used everything I could get my hands on!”, Tony Bosc says, with the same devastating smile as his grandfather, the late Guy Molle. But it was around the age of 22 that the young construction worker had a real revelation: “It was during an evening with friends. We were dreaming a little and we said to ourselves “let's make paintings!” And we started drawing with felt-tip pens”. He posted his sketch on Facebook. The owner of a restaurant immediately contacted him to offer him to create a work on a wall of the establishment.

“My characters also allow me to play with clichés, social classes”

“At the time, I didn't have any equipment. I took markers that you use to write the menu and in three hours I painted with that!” The result will amaze another artist, the visual artist Maxime Lhermet. “The next day, he invited me to his studio. I worked with him for a year, I learned by watching him. He told me that I had an ability to fill space!” That was the trigger. He then decided to go to Paris where he settled near the Gobelins school. “For 8 months, I painted about thirty canvases. I played with materials on the ground”.

The young artist runs the exhibitions, discovers art. “I ate everything. That's where I saw Combas. It was incredible, I discovered his personality, and his little colored men circled in black.” A friend, René Caperan, helped him launch his first exhibition in Sète. The sale was a success from the first evening. Tony Bosc sought to find a visual identity of his own. Here again, it was when he came home from a party that he found inspiration: “I drew a circle, two eyes, a mouth, I dressed him in yellow, blue, pink without any details and I put on a hat. I filled an A3 sheet”. He will produce about a hundred silkscreen prints from it, “everything is gone!” He holds the beginnings of his characters.

“Animated Figuration”

“They also allow me to play with clichés, social classes”, analyzes the painter who claims a kind of “animated figuration” in homage to the Sète school of Free Figuration. “These artists opened my eyes to art, thanks to them, we put our feet under the table!” , jokes Tony Bosc, who still can't believe he was invited to pay tribute to Brassens for the 100th anniversary of his birth. In black and white this time. Touched and not a little proud to have been chosen for the poster of the Saint-Louis 2021, “50 years after my grandfather won the tournament”.