Alain-Paul Sevilla was born a French citizen in St. Cloud, Algeria on July 8, 1943.

From 1958-1962 he attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Oran. As Algerian terrorism escalated against French citizens, Alain-Paul was sent by his family to Toulon, France in 1962 to pave the way for them to flee.

Sevilla attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Nice from 1962-1963, then served in the French army at Ecole Militaire D’Antibes. From 1965-1973 he worked as a drafting technician at Le Ministere de la Reconstruction Monuments Historique. From 1973-1976 Sevilla attended Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In 1976 he relocated to London for 6 months to study English, then moved to Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, Sevilla worked in auto body repair, and then set up a drywall and plastering business. Becoming interested in painted faux finishes in the mid-1980s, he took a weekend seminar at the Day School in San Francisco, and immediately set to work creating exquisite samples of marbleized moldings and flat board finishes.

Not content with working his way up from the bottom, he made appointments with Beverly Hills’ top interior designers, who took an instant liking to both the man and his at-that-time very unique and realistic artistic faux finishes. He set his prices high commensurate with the clientele of this calibre of designer, and within weeks went from anonymous struggling drywall installer to thriving faux finisher to the rich and famous. He created extensive and elaborate faux interior finishes for top restaurants like Le Dôme on Sunset Blvd., and private homes like Lynda and Stewart Resnick (The Franklin Mint) whose Sunset Blvd. French chateau is a local landmark (see photo below), as well as Barbra Streisand’s residence.

As the general public’s interest in faux finishes mushroomed, and the field became more crowded, Sevilla, who has just begun painting on canvas, set his sights on the Fine Art world. His very first canvas was received with raves, and knowing the value of connections, signed on for a tour of artists’ studios led by the renowned arts maven, Marcia Weisman, one of the founders of MOCA.

Marcia Weisman, by Andy Warhol

Charming her with his Continental manners and accent, she uncharacteristically agreed to visit his small studio to see his work, She was won over, and quickly became a mentor and a friend. Marcia encouraged him to enter his work in the upcoming prestigious Beverly Hills Affaire in the Gardens Art Show in May 1989, where he won the Art League Purchase Award. That purchase was hung in the Beverly Hills City Hall Collection. His very first gallery show the following year was held in a world class venue: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, from June 1 -July 6, 1990. Characteristically, Sevilla did not subscribe to the old adage of working his way up from the bottom.

Between 1983 and 1993 Sevilla made more than 20 trips to Hawaii, where he had always planned to settle. Ensconcing himself for weeks on end with sketch pads and pastels in the hamlets of Hana and Kaupo on Maui, Hawi on the Big Island, and Hanalei on Kauai, there he found much inspiration and isolation to work and create without distraction. His “Sea” Series was conceived and perfected in Hawaii, and in 1993 he met with directors of The Contemporary Museum Honolulu to begin making arrangements for his first Hawaii exhibit, which as fate would have it, was never to be.

Alain-Paul Sevilla died on June 26, 1994 in Los Angeles. His ashes were spread in his beloved adopted home of Hawaii, on Molokai, at remote Waikolu Valley.