Sylvain Corentin, Extérieur décoré / Decorated exterior

images are screenprints from the video in the documentation

The image above shows part of a decorated exterior wall of a house in Prades-le-Lez, a commune of about 6,200 inhabitants located north of Montpellier, in the south of France.

These decorations were made by Sylvain Corentin, who was born in Montpellier on November 23, 1962, to a family with a somewhat controlling mother and a father who was a police officer.

As a child, Sylvain had a somewhat difficult time at school, which led him to withdraw into a fantasy world he depicted in drawings.

After his years at school, he went on to higher education, which was a liberating experience for him. 

He enjoyed musical groups and nevertheless managed to earn an art diploma.

After graduating, he worked in education and got married. The couple settled in Prades-le-Lez and had three children.

Corentin left teaching and, following his heart, became an artist.

In that capacity he initially made sketches on paper, but after some time he went in a completely different direction by beginning to investigate what it was like to make three-dimensional creations;

At some point he started focusing on creating all kinds of white tower-like structures, as depicted in the image below.

\Sylvain Corentin explained his motivation for this: "I really want these towers to look like ephemeral dwellings. Ultimately, I don't like things that are too rigid. I love this hut-like look. Initially, humans integrated with nature by building ephemeral things, using what nature offered them".

Sylvain  Corentin worked for several months at the International Museum of Modest Arts (MIAM) in Sète, which brought him into close contact with outsider art. He also met prominent artists in this field, such as Danielle Jacqui.

From that moment on, his work truly took off. 

He traveled to the United States, where he met a gallery owner in New York who specialized in American artists working in the field of outsider art. 

Since then, his work has been acquired by numerous American collections, and he has participated in exhibitions and art fairs throughout the United States.

His contacts with the world of outsider art most likely also led him to start decorating the outside walls of his house.

In any case, the style in which the decorations are applied to the outside wall of his house is such that a presentation of the decorated exterior in this weblog about outsider art environments seems appropriate,

Documentations

* Website of Sylvain Corentin

* Article (2025) on the weblog Tipeek

* Article  (2020) on the website Artistes de France, Occitanie

* Article (2019) on the website Hérault Tribune

Video

* Video (9'58", 2023) on Facebook

Sylvain Corentin

Decorated exterior

76 rue du Puech-Marty, 

Prades-le-Lez, north of Montpellier, dept Herault, region Occitanie, France

decorations can be seen from the street