By its very definition, trompe-l'œil painting reveals the particularity of a technique in which the care for detail and the tricks of perspective create an illusion of reality. And it is precisely this confrontation between reality and the imaginary which weaves its magic. But the road is so long and sinuous that rare are the chosen ones capable of reproducing with as much precision and exactitude the plays of light, the weft of a canvas or the brilliance of a piece of porcelain…Yves Palliès is among the chosen few, admitted on the occasion of the exhibition of realist painters at the Grand Plais alongside Poirier, Cadiou, Nadine Le Prince… It must be said that this painter, originally from Nantes and son of a portrait painter and decorator, was practically born brandishing a paintbrush. And the three years he spent at Nantes Beaux Arts art school served to teach him marbling and woodgraining techniques as well as drawing skills and perspective. The extremely precise water colours and the overly detailed oil paintings of his youth, in spite of their success, all failed to satisfy the artist. The revelation takes place in 1991 when Palliès attends an exhibition of the works of Jacques Poirier. Taken aback and flabbergasted by the virtuosity of this master of trompe-l'œil painting, Palliés finally finds the way forward- his own way - which he never stops exploring. Firstly, a perfectly thought out stagecraft, created using old objects, nails and drawing pins, houses made from playing cards and threadbare books. And when, by chance, the object needed to complete the composition is lacking, he makes it himself. A torn book, a few unusual details, a puzzle to be solved - all provide a poetic note set off by perfectly controlled lighting. On the canvas, a few lines suffice for the outline to which the artist, armed with steadfast patience, constantly returns. Flat tints follow glazes so that colours are naturally reflected one after the other. You have to search for details which aren't immediately obvious confides the artist who turns his attentions to applying shade and brilliant effects in order to give his work a truer than life realism.
From this moment, the observer is glued to the spot by the artist's total mastery of this silent room in which the eloquence of the immobile actors is expressed with the measured humour of plays on words. In this fool's game, deception is so perfectly orchestrated that only an extremely developed sense of observation will allow Yves Palliès' subtlety and wealth of mysteries and cunningness to be discovered.

Thierry SZNYTKA