François Bonnel (France, b.1968) is a French abstract artist currently based in Toulouse, France. Bonnel approaches art creation in an improvisational manner, infusing musicality into his work. Throughout his artistic journey, he continuously explores various techniques and media, including digital media, photography, and collage. With different musical styles serving as inspiration, his artworks are characterized by straightforward lines, shapes, and colors, exuding a high level of recognition and releasing his passion for art freely and purely. His works are permanently collected by the Harvard Art Museums in the United States and are also featured in international luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton in New York, L'Oréal and Longchamp in Paris, as well as numerous private collections.

Inspired by music, Bonnel believes that "a painting must harmonize with its surroundings, just like a perfume or music." He begins his mornings with soul music, followed by folk, rock, and more, using painting on weekends to awaken his mind and calm himself, making it a necessary balance in life. He finds energy in curves and bright colors, while shadows bring contrast and depth. Naming each artwork after songs he listens to during the creative process, Bonnel likens each painting to a piece of music with its corresponding track.

Bonnel's mother, a painting teacher, introduced him to art during his childhood, where he naturally developed a liking for art through finger painting, mixing colors, and drawing shapes. Painting became his path to seeking positive energy. Inspired by the music he listens to, he incorporates musicality into his works, forming a unique personal creative vocabulary to express emotional memories through elements such as shapes, colors, lines, and space. The geometric blocks of color and rich hues in his works also reveal the artist's inner emotional world. Delicate lines and color blocks create sharp contrasts, transforming into pleasant and joyful emotions through the overlap of colors and lines.

The pioneer of abstract art, Wassily Kandinsky, possessed synesthesia, enabling him to perceive the connection between colors and sounds. In his book "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," he compared colors in the spectrum to the sounds of specific musical instruments, such as yellow with trumpets and red with deep bassoons, and proposed the emotional significance of colors. He believed that painting's colors and lines could express emotions, much like music can convey the highs and lows of emotions through sound. American abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly, on the other hand, shifted away from emotion to explore the dynamic relationship between shapes, space, and colors, expanding the boundaries of abstract art. Bonnel believes that "painting is pure pleasure, not for conveying messages or philosophy, but simply immersing oneself in it." His works are natural and unpretentious, reminiscent of the comfortable warmth of southern France dried in the sun. This feeling seamlessly integrates into his use of curves, asymmetrical circles, and bright colors, as well as the rhythmic structure and graphic elements in his paintings.

In 2024, Bluerider ART Taipei·DunRen presents the solo exhibition of the represented artist "François Bonnel: Lyrical Painting," showcasing a series of his latest creations. The artwork "Stay High" takes inspiration from the song "Beautiful People (Stay High)" by The Black Keys, using organic irregular circles and natural neutral tones on linen canvas to evoke the retro blues-rock atmosphere of the song. "Have A Nice Day" draws inspiration from the iconic tracks of the British band Stereophonics, featuring streamlined curves and precise color block compositions to create a three-dimensional visual effect. The piece "Meilleur" (French for "the best") presents lines in different colors crossing the canvas, forming dynamic and vivid geometric patterns through the arrangement and intersection of colored lines, inviting viewers to explore and imagine the artwork. Iimmerse in the pure moment of creation shared with artist François Bonnel, following the blocks of colors and lines on the paintings accompanied by the melodies and voices in their ears, transcending time, and space.