Ortaire was born in Normandy, France. After studying fine art at Cherbourg he settled in the Bretagne area, where he lives near the sea, with his wife and two children. He exhibited at the Royal Academy of London in 2008 and now has galleries showing his work in across Europe. Ortaire uses intense pigments to create his unique painted fish before suspending them in paraffin and covering them with a transparent resin. Genuine sardine tins (manufactured in his local area) are used to create an interesting dynamic between the industrial, mass-produced, everyday object and his hand painted, unique and often humorous representations of the fish. Using his unusual technique, Ortaire aims to surprise and delight his audience with this unexpected marriage of the commercial with the artisan.