003 — Performance
Performances
Le corps comme pinceau. La toile naît du mouvement.
Le concept
The performance starts before the paint touches the canvas. Henri steps in, the berimbau, atabaque, and pandeiro begin, and something shifts. This is not about control. It is about following rhythm and instinct wherever they go.
Henri paints through capoeira movements: ginga, au, meia-lua. A leg sweep sends paint in a curve. A low roll pushes pigment across the surface. The body is not guiding the brush. It becomes the brush.
Every performance is different because the room is different. The music, the audience, the tension of the moment: the painting holds all of it. No canvas can be repeated, and it should not be.
Henri began performing in the streets of Paris in the early 2010s, at his first residency 59 Rivoli, and in the courtyards of the Marais. From there, the work traveled: to festivals in Brazil, cultural events in the Philippines, residency performances in Maldives and Japan, and private and corporate commissions across Europe.
Tamaraw — Maharlika series, born in performance
Vidéos
Paris streets · Manila residencies · Museum interventions · Private commissions
Linya : Live Capoeira Performance (2019), Henri Lamy x Daloy Dance Company`
2019 · Daloy Dance Studio · Manila
Artist: Henri Lamy | Event: Live Painting Performance | Location: Daloy Dance Studio, Manila (2019) A multidisciplinary collaboration with the Daloy Dance Company, choreographed by Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish—the first Filipina principal dancer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Lamy applied his "painting-Capoeira" technique, letting the martial art's gestures directly dictate the paint—explosive splatters and palette knife strokes that mirror the dancers' movements. The canvas is a living record of the tension between discipline and spontaneity.
Capoeira Painting Performance: The Ruins, Manila (2018)
2018 · The Ruins, Poblacion · Manila
Artist: Henri Lamy | Event: Live Painting Performance | Location: The Ruins, Poblacion, Makati (2018) A landmark moment in the Makati art scene, this performance documents Lamy's Capoeira Painting discipline—translating the fluid movements of the Brazilian martial art into bold, gestural strokes on canvas. Hosted by Harrington Auctions and anchored by the Taverne Gutenberg Art Residency, the event united a roster of local and international artists including Leeroy New, Olivia d'Aboville, and Nikolo Salazar, transforming The Ruins into a living laboratory of multidisciplinary creativity.
Sapiens II: Henri Lamy’s Kinetic Capoeira Performance at Pinto Art Museum (2019)
2019 · Pinto Art Museum · Philippines
Artist: Henri Lamy | Event: Sapiens II — Solo Live Painting Performance | Location: Pinto Art Museum, Philippines (2019) A landmark solo show at Dr. Joven Cuanang's Pinto Art Museum, "Sapiens II" sees Lamy merging Capoeira's acrobatic fluidity with expressive palette knife techniques—using his body as a brush and the live rhythms of Talahib People's Music as his guide. Produced by Maïa d'Aboville and Aldrich Maglantay, with curation by Billy Bonnevie, Agnes Arellano, and Jenny Villanueva, the performance transformed raw physical exertion into a vibrant, textured portrait of human expression.
Ateliers & Communauté
Performance as social practice
The audience is part of the work. When people are watching, the tension changes and so does the painting. What remains is not just paint on canvas. It is the record of something that actually happened.
Performances can be commissioned for private events, galleries, festivals, or corporate gatherings. Each starts with a conversation about scale, color, and what the space actually needs. The finished canvas is given to whoever commissioned it at the end of the event.
Commissionnement
Book Henri for your event
Private events, cultural festivals, gallery openings, corporate occasions. Each commission begins with a conversation.