Originally from the Rhône Valley, Benjamin Bonjour has developed a distinctive artistic practice shaped by a life journey marked by upheaval and itinerancy. After the death of his mother, he left his place of origin. At the age of eighteen, a severe case of meningitis profoundly changed the course of his life and left him with lasting effects. Supported for a time by his brother, he was later left alone following his brother’s accidental death. He then began singing for the sick before becoming a peddler, travelling from village to village and offering residents everyday objects.
With the help of his two sisters, Benjamin Bonjour devoted himself fully to drawing and singing from the age of sixty onward. His work emerged from humble, found materials gathered throughout his daily life: flyers, envelopes, cardboard packaging, and recycled sheets of paper. Using coloured pencils and felt-tip pens, he created series devoted to familiar motifs — flowers, trees, landscapes, mountains, and churches — reflecting both his travels and his memories of the places he encountered.
The repetition of forms, the fragmentation of surfaces into a multitude of coloured touches, and the vibrancy of his lines give his compositions a deeply vital energy.