>|< Papillon (alias PM Colpin-Gucat), a self-taught French painter born in 1968, has dedicated himself to painting since setting up his studios in 2008 in Serre di Pagliero, in the Maira Valley, Italy (province of Cuneo). In 2014, he continued his work in the hamlet of Libre and then in Bancao in Breil sur Roya, France, before establishing a secondary studio in 2015 in Perinaldo in the province of Imperia, Italy.
Born in 1968, Pascal M. Colpin-Gucat, known as >|< Papillon, is a self-taught French painter whose work has explored the inner and outer boundaries of human identity for over fifteen years.
Based in the Roya Valley and Piedmont—with studios in Libre/Breil-sur-Roya, France, and Perinaldo, Italy—he has developed a singular hybrid practice: the Mental Walls. These works are neither simple paintings nor mere narratives; they are monumental or intimate pictorial architectures (mixed media, raw pigments, shredded recycled newspapers, tempera, oil) that merge visual art and literary storytelling.
Each Mental Wall embodies a living chapter of the narrative project Time & Life of X, where layers of paint, fragments of collective memory, and personal writings (correspondence, drafts, sketches) intertwine to form an emotional palimpsest. The works primarily explore themes of identity, rituals, metamorphosis, inner transformation, and the thresholds between worlds—often described as "dimensional portals" for those who find their key. At the heart of this approach lie cosmic solitude, resilience in the face of boundaries (psychic, spiritual, geographic), the metamorphosis of the ego, and the ritualistic quest for precarious peace.
Papillon transforms the wall into an operative tool: it does not merely represent consciousness—it enacts it upon the viewer, inviting them to traverse dimensional portals between saturated chaos and alchemical silence.
His works—ranging from monumental, earthy formats to intimate diptychs from Time & Life of X—are exhibited as immersive installations and are gradually entering private collections in France and abroad. The Mental Walls now stand as the cornerstone of his oeuvre.
His style is defined by raw expressiveness, intense emotions, layered visual narratives, and influences he describes as "new baroque," sometimes neo-punk baroque or punk fauvism—a fusion of visceral energy and symbolic sophistication.
