A l'Affût

Created in Lyon in 2020, this masterful 201 x 200 cm piece, titled À l’affût (On the Prowl), is a key part of the captivating series Vapeurs Toxiques (Toxic Vapors). At the center of this large-scale square composition, a monumental black panther emerges from a lush thicket, its magnetic gaze piercing through the foliage to lock onto the viewer with raw, wild intensity. The feline, rendered with a sculptural density, seems to simultaneously blend into and break away from an environment where nature becomes dreamlike and almost supernatural.

The atmosphere of the canvas is steeped in a psychedelic and hazy aesthetic, a hallmark of the series. Henri Lamy utilizes a bold palette where the deep greens of ferns and palms intermingle with plumes of turquoise, violet, and neon pink, suggesting the "vapors" that transform the jungle into an ethereal landscape. The paint, applied with vivid and textured brushwork, creates a vibrant depth, while bursts of yellow and orange in the background evoke filtered light or a stifling tropical heat.

À l’affût is an exploration of tension and patience. The structure of the work, playing with overlapping layers of graphic foliage and diffused splashes of color, reinforces the sense of concealment and imminent danger. Balancing raw power and atmospheric fragility, this piece demonstrates the artist's ability to capture the essence of a predator within an ecosystem undergoing a chromatic mutation, offering a vision of wildlife that is at once majestic and unsettling.