Lucie Duban
LandE scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW representative feature of your canvass , as Un après-midi comme les autres . The way you to capture non-sharpness with an universal kind of language quality marks out a considerable part of your production , that are in a certain sense representative of the relationship between emotion and memory . How would you define the relationship between abstraction and representation in your practice ? In particular , how does representation and a tendency towards abstraction find their balance in your work ?
It ' s a good question . Actually , it ' s indeed a question of balance . The abstract part , weither it ' s in my series Natura or in my most obvious abstract paintings , plays a role in setting up a non-determined context thanks to colours and shapes . This enables me to set up a kind of a visual background which could make possible an escape from the reality for the viewer .
In order to arise some dream and escape , I indeed work to inject some interpretated elements , so they could recall for the viewers some familiar landscapes or imageries taken from Nature . But not in an obvious way otherwise i think it would be less interesting and less prone to lead to a state of escapism .
For instance , in Un après-midi comme les autres , I paint some elements that when put together could recall an animal figure , even if by looking at it , it doesn ' t look like anything we know . But it recalls natural forms , and that ' s what I want to create . Most of the time , I end up there by serendipity . I have no idea where I am heading to when I start . It ' s really a conversation .
So I would say that in the end abstraction and representation work together in order to counter-balance each other . I just try to reach this balance . I just simply want to avoid any truly figurative forms , because my main purpose is to provoke , if possible , some dreamlike and playful feelings . I hope I answered your question .
The dreamy quality that marks out your work inquires into the interstitial space between the subconscious and a conscious level , providing the spectatorship with an immersive experience that forces such a contamination the inner and the outside . It would seem that much of your work is designed to provoke an intellectual , non-narrative response and the brushstrokes that condense your visual vocabulary have a very ethereal quality . How do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works ?
Well , thank you for saying this ! It ' s what I wish to provoke in the viewer , this immersive experience which I refer to as an escape .
So the dream aspect , what we call “ onirisme ” in french , it ' s paramount in my art . I believe it to be the basics of any Art actually . As an art lover myself , I tend to always be absorbed by artworks which convey this aspect . To enable viewers to dream it ' s just the best , really ! Although , I would rather talk of a non-intellectual thing or rather an intellectual response on an emotional
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