ROOTS
This abstract gestural series deals with imageries from my origins and childhood. A lot of inspiration and influences from Britanny, the traditional colorful costumes of Breton women, my two grand mothers wearing la “Coiffe”, this funny hat in lace that takes an hour to put on, and all the “broderie” and craft that appear on their gowns fascinated me as a child.I can still feel the heaviness of the black velvet fabric and the smell of the lace of my grand mother costume. I remember watching the Defile every year where all these proud women would wear their festive gowns , very sophisticated and rich in colors, yellows , orange, red and black with a contrast of the white transparent coiffe. My mother was a couturiere and I remember all the pieces of fabric everywhere in her Atelier and box of colorful threads. She would put the leftovers of fabrics in a cardboard box outside her Atelier and I would be allowed to use them to make my dolls clothes and later on some teenagers bikinis! This box was magic to me, I remember waiting the end of her day to check what treasure was in it and on Saturdays and wednesdays after school I could pretend to be like her, a couturiere. I remember sitting at her desk and turning pages of women ’s magazines in search of inspiration sometimes and be aware of the latest fashion. And dream.
In this series I want to honor these memories and the dynamic effect they had on my creativity and identity. Using my gestures of paint I put these memories in action, layer them together with variations of transparencies and brushstrokes, integrate and converge them into the canvas to make it my own: part of my tradition and part of my future. It is like saying we are all patchwork and we make our own recipe our own mix in order to be whole.
My other strong inspiration from Britanny and childhood has been witnessing my dad fishing in the summer and coming back home with wonderful fresh fish and seafood in the early mornings. His fishes were put in a traditional basket called “Bascoden”, that he had made himself with osier. I remember the smell of seaweeds , “goemon” that he laid on that bottom to keep the fish fresh. I remember the brilliance of the fresh fish and the wonderful colors , grey, blues and red. I remember his outfit: an old “vareuse", the blue one and the red one that was so bleached by the years that it was faded light pink red. A hard fabric, resistant and warm enough to go early morning on the ocean and tough enough to stop the wind.