Self-taught artist, Jean-Jacques Royo (*1955, Pau, France) spent his childhood scribbling drawings during his school hours. Already, by scrutinizing nature, he sought a place where he could let his thoughts wander. His first encounter with painting took place in 1978 during a trip to India, a country he would return to ten times during his life and which would greatly influence his works. That year, he found himself penniless and, equipping himself with a box of white chalk, he began to draw on the ground, on the sidewalks of Bombay, zany characters that allowed him to earn a living. It was in 1987, after ten years traveling the world, that he settled in the Drome and abandoned the walls and sidewalks in contact with the Flemish artist Denise Willem to create his first works on canvas. He lives in Sanalhac in Ardeche, where he has his studio. He has created approximately 7,000 pictorial works.