Manorack

Art Collect - Manorack

Born in Paris in 1956, Manorack now lives in the Basque Country, where the light and landscapes continue to shape his eye. A self-taught photographer — “and one who has never stopped being so,” he likes to remind — he long worked at the crossroads of press photography, social engagement and artistic expression. In the early 1980s, he collaborated with both local and national media, refining his technique through workshops at Kodak in Sevran (1983) and later in analog development (1985). Between 1986 and 1994, he worked as a corporate photographer and on-site portrait photographer before taking an unexpected turn: training as a special-needs educator.

This detour into the social field was not a parenthesis, but an extension of his vocation: Manorack photographs the world and its people not to seize them, but to understand them better. In the specialized institutions where he worked, he introduced young audiences to photography, even setting up a darkroom in a centre for adolescents with disabilities. Transmission thus became an integral part of his artistic practice.

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It is under the name Manorack — his chosen artist’s name, carried like a banner — that he officially registered again as a professional photographer in 1989, and later resumed activity in 2019 after his years spent in the social field. He defines his art as a shifting, never-fixed process: “It is very rare for me to finish a work in one single sweep. My eye is in constant readjustment.”

Manorack’s creations, somewhere between abstraction and suggestion, seek neither provocation nor visual dominance. Instead, they invite a gradual drift of the gaze — an inner awakening. “I am only a passer,” he says, favouring dialogue over assertion, resonance over certainty. He composes his images as one might sculpt a thought: with patience, attentiveness, and a mind continuously tuned to the present moment.

Art Collect Store - Manorack - Paris la REP
Art Collect Store - Manorack

A member of the ADAGP, Manorack is also the founder of several artistic collectives, including ARTéDESIGN (2019), TRYPTIK and ART KaMaHé (2022) — spaces for shared creation and collective inspiration. Since 2018, he has exhibited regularly, both solo and in groups, and continues to nurture an artistic exploration fed equally by painting, photography, cinema and music.

On Art Collect® Store, his works find a particularly meaningful resonance: they question perception, suggest more than they assert, and allow the viewer to project their own flashes of awareness. A photoplastic artist at the full maturity of his craft, guided not by dogma but by that invisible thread connecting image and soul.

 

TESTIMONIALS

In front of the painting “Le Pin”, during an exhibition, a man stood quietly, contemplating it, and said: “It’s incredible… I don’t quite know how to explain it, but it speaks to me. It tells me it has a story. I already know exactly where it will go in my home — so I can anchor my thoughts to it each day.” That man, Olivier C., later shared that he is a marine carpenter and a trainer at a compagnonnage center specializing in woodwork. A small anecdote: this tree, with its trunk bent at a right angle, I imagined it as having withstood the great storm of 1990. Back then, it was just a sapling — its top couldn’t resist the violent gusts and broke. But it wasn’t torn off. It kept growing, slowly strengthening that broken tip. Olivier, the buyer, then told me: “This tree is resilient. It doesn’t die. It’s faced life. Maybe that’s why we still have something to say to each other…”

Olivier C

In front of my painting “La Forêt Rouge”, during an exhibition in Biarritz, a man stopped, slowly walking around it for several long minutes. I watched him in silence, then eventually approached to introduce myself and see if he was interested. He turned to me and said: “It’s great and awesome! I’m drowning in red and blue is constantly changing shades…” And just like that, he left with it. He was an American tourist visiting Biarritz… and my painting flew off to the USA.

At an exhibition in the Landes, a woman slowly circled a painting depicting a mountain landscape… The piece strongly evoked the feel of a Japanese print or a traditional Chinese landscape painting. After a few minutes, she seemed to be searching — perhaps for the artist. She didn’t know who I was, and I had stayed discreetly in the background to give space to the viewers. Suddenly, she spotted me and walked straight over without hesitation: “This painting — it’s you! There’s so much calm, depth, and subtle nuance that I can feel, all while being drawn into its inner world. This painting really reflects who you are, sir! And it will be just right in my home.” Since then, Madame Saint-Lanne has followed my exhibitions regularly.