Chef Éric Guérin exhibits his sketches in Arles
In Arles, Éric Guérin reveals another facet of his world. His kitchen sketches are on show at the Festival du Dessin, in a group exhibition celebrating the links between art and gastronomy.
Before setting a plate, Éric Guérin often begins by drawing it. at La Mare aux Oiseaux, his 3-toque home in the heart of the Brière region, culinary creation begins on paper. Sketches, colors, textures... It's this process that the chef shares today in Arles, on the occasion of the Festival du Dessin, in the collective exhibition La cuisine en dessins. A sensitive incursion into the intimate world of a chef-artist.
A cuisine that begins with the line
The precision and poetry of Éric Guillemot's cooking is perhaps due to the fact that it takes shape long before the stove. In his notebooks, Éric Guérin imagines his dishes as he would a sketch: guided by emotion, memories or the inspiration of a place. For him, drawing is a tool for creation, memory and transmission. It's also a way of bringing an idea to life, before it becomes flat. It's an instinctive, personal gesture that he's now sharing for the first time in an artistic setting.
A spring dedicated to drawing
Created in 2023 by Vera Michalski and Frédéric Pajak, the Festival du Dessin d'Arles has established itself in just a few editions as one of the highlights of the cultural spring. Every year, the city is transformed into an open-air gallery, with exhibitions, performances, conferences and meetings. For this third edition, from April 12 to May 11 2025, some forty artists are invited to explore all facets of drawing, from the most classical to the most contemporary.
Among them, Éric Guérin takes part in the group exhibition La cuisine en dessins, alongside Michel Oliver, Amandine Chaignot, David Muñoz and Alain Chapel. An opportunity to highlight the close links between the artistic gesture and the culinary gesture.
