Joël Richard is a contemporary painter born in France and currently residing in North Bondi, Sydney, Australia. Working primarily with oil paints, he is best known for his expressive oil on canvas. His work, which evolved from film photography to painting in 2020, includes both figurative and non-figurative surrealism with an abstract touch.

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His work explores love, social norms, and emotional figurative scenes through theatrical compositions and movement of the human body, inspired by daily life, places, childhood memories, and his vision of the future. His paintings use vivid color palettes and textured surfaces to set the mood. Through his practice he aims to express the experiences of individuals, blending figurative elements with an abstract approach.

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Joël has held Solo exhibitions, including ‘If You Leave Can I Come’ at COMA, Sydney in October 2024 and ‘Sense of Guilt’ at Room 205, Sydney in 2022. He has also participated in group exhibitions with Art Club at Our House in 2023 and 2024 and was finalist in the Soho Art Prize 2024.  

I primarily work with oil paints, oil sticks, and oil pastels, combining bold, vibrant colors with softer pastel tones. My process begins with preparing a color palette to establish the final composition, often using a dominant background color to shape the scene’s mood. I start by sketching directly onto the canvas with charcoal before blending oil paints to build depth and atmosphere.
 
My style blends expressive figuration with gestural abstraction, using bold, non-naturalistic colors. It often show the human body sometimes nude, floating, or in tense, dramatic poses within softly surreal scenes that retain a childlike drawing feeling.