Art is an illusion, a re-ordering of the real world through the artist's eyes. In Bouchard's case the physical world is his primary interest. Elements of one reality are removed from their original state and re-positioned in another, usually imagined, place.
Only our knowledge and experience make us question whether the Houses of Parliament overlook an immense open landscape or whether the giant bubbles really do rise from the ground in front of The House of Ideas.
Bouchard plays with visual illusions in his paintings: the horizon levels may vary; someone is about to net the moon in 'The Mooncatcher'; a building becomes a wafer-thin facade when we investigate further. The trickery finds a parallel in real life, where he practices vanishing coins and other conjuring feats whilst pondering paintings in progress.
Bouchard spent many years in the Middle East, where he was influenced by the clarity of the light and the enhanced colours seen at dawn and dusk. In his paintings he pushes colours to extremes, deliberately placing complementaries next to each other.
Almost all of Bouchard's work is privately commissioned and completing each painting can take up to eighteen months.
Bouchard, who is self-taught, was a finalist in the 2003 Not The Turner Prize sponsored by the Daily Mail.
The aim of the paintings is to create an alternative world which appears to be just as real as our everyday world, but where the magic is more apparent: this is the world of Surrealism.
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