Large format figurative painting "La centauresse" by Francky Criquet

Born on September 19th, 1968 in La Flèche (La Sarthe, France), Francky Criquet comes from a family of second hand goods /scrap metal dealers. His father is from Fort de France, and his mother, born in Orbec (Calvados, France), is Normand. In 1978, at the age of just ten, he paints a mural at Verron primary school where he is a pupil. He paints another for his secondary school in 1980. That year, at the age of twelve, he wins First Prize in the “Young Painters Competition” (Prix de la Jeune Peinture) organized by the city of Le Mans. The following year, several of his drawings are exhibited in the town hall of La Flèche. At 18, he takes the decision to work in the antiques business, selling objects at various antiques markets and trade fairs. From time to time, he restores old paintings for other antiques dealers, some of which end up exhibited in museums (Nantes) or are purchased by art collectors. In 1995, Francky Criquet leaves France for Andalusia, Spain where he spends one year painting in the studio of Julio Fernandez Ceballos Montalban, who becomes his painting master. The following year, he travels to England where he produces more than 300 paintings, all of which are later sold in the United States. In 2003, exhibitions are organized by various galleries: in Brazil at the French Embassy in Sao Paulo, in Megen in The Netherlands and in Italy. The following year, his works are shown in New York and in Miami. Between 2005 and 2008, he regularly exhibits in China, where his gallery, Sangshan Art, organizes numerous exhibitions in Shanghaï, Beijing and HangZhou.