Jean Labourdette
Messengers
December 12th- January 10th 2026
Opening night reception Saturday, December 12th 6-9pm
Please just contact us to get larger images , detail images, or a video walk around of a piece!
Jean Labourdette’s tasks himself with showing the beauty that beams out behind the traditionally “ugly” or unloved.
He has forged a unique artistic vision and signature aesthetic over years of compulsive creation. In the late eighties he began his journey on the streets of Paris as a graffiti artist (he is aka Turf One) renowned for his distinctive and surreal characters. Over the years, Jean evolved into a prolific and singular sought-after multidisciplinary artist working as an illustrator, comic artist, filmmaker and painter. Today, he spends most of his time painting. His most current work is lauded for his hyper-realistically rendered works of poetically odd characters, meticulously painted trompe l’oeil skulls and birds, and loving and sympathetic portraits of dogs, often ensconced in reliquary inspired frames- adding a dimension of reverence and appreciation for things we often pass by in the mundane world.
This show of miniature paintings focuses on birds- not the resplendent and lauded colorful and fantastical, but the ones that fill in the cracks of our civilization- often overlooked (if not outright villainized as in the case with pigeons). Here- they are depicted in all their beauty- each feather hyper realistically rendered, considered, and enshrined in found frames and objects.
I have always seen birds as messengers — beings that move freely between worlds, carrying meanings that words can’t hold. In this series, I turn my attention to the birds we overlook: pigeons and sparrows — those who share our cities, our noise, our debris. Often called vermin, they have lost their “immaculate” aura simply by living too close to us. And yet, to me, they are just as sacred and majestic as doves or eagles. Through them, I explore a form of sacredness stripped of dogma — something that lives quietly within the ordinary, in the space between the visible and the unseen. At times, their sudden appearance feels like a message — a quiet reminder that life and death are not separate realms, but parts of the same vast mystery. - Jean Labourdette
Please contact us to get additional images, info, or a video walk by of a piece!
Jean Labourdette
Temple
Acrylic and gold leaf on panel (vintage gothic oak frame).
12” x 7.5”
$4,200
Jean Labourdette
Sacra Alata
Acrylic and gold leaf on panel (19th century architecture church salvage)
23.25”x 6.25”x 2.75”
$2,500
Jean Labourdette
Flutter
Acrylic and spray on panel, early 20th century antique oak frame
15.25”x 11.75”
$3,200
Jean Labourdette
Cacandos Cacamus
Acrylic and oil on panel, vintage Italian frame and vintage gilt wood carving
24.5”x 6”
$3,200
Jean Labourdette
Bird Box
Acrylic and spray on found wood object
9.5”x 9” x 4”
$2,200 - SOLD
Jean Labourdette
Life
Acrylic and oil on antique wood (19th c. Bread Board)
12” diameter x 1” wide
$2,700
Jean Labourdette
Between Worlds
Acrylic and gold leaf on panel with a vintage Italian mid century frame.
8”x 6”
$2,200.- SOLD
Jean Labourdette
Humble Abode
Acrylic and gold leaf on panel with antique Victorian ebonized frame.
7”x 4”
$2,200
Jean Labourdette
House Sparrow
Acrylic and oil on panel (antique frame, brass & wood)
4.5”x 4”
$2,200. SOLD