In 1986, Padrig traveled to Sri Lanka initially to study Buddhism and Pali as well as to acquire a command of Sinhalese which he studied in London. He finally settled for the next 36 years in Sri Lanka where he married and worked. His Buddhist studies led him to take a close interest in Hinduism and its different philosophies, following which he completed a degree in Tamil and Indian civilization at the Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris (INALCO ).
Padrig began drawing late in his Sri Lankan studies to better memorize the Hindu gods, their shapes and symbols as well as certain elements of Buddhism. He would paint Buddhist and Hindu symbolism as well as Hindu gods for over 2 decades.
FROM CELTIC LAND TO SOUTH ASIA recounts the artist’s journey from his native Brittany to Sri Lanka passing by India and the Middle East. Padrig attempts to express through Celtic, Hindu and Middle Eastern designs, the different influences that imprinted on his mind along this journey in a colorful flat art and naive style.
Through this journey, Padrig felt a growing and relentless sense of anxiety generated by political, social and economic instability spreading along his path. Padrig toyed with the idea of a more political and social expression in his work. Nevertheless, the urge to share a feeling of quietness and peace took the upper hand and so the desire to translate a sense of humanity as well as an attempt to connect to a more spiritual dimension.
Padrig hopes he managed some of this with this exhibition through his designs, colors, symmetry, religious and cultural symbolism as well as the constant use of animal and floral patterns