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11/3/2008

Madeleine Paternot

Mews42 / Vanessa Suchar, London

Madeleine Paternot is back in London! Since her departure in 2001, Madeleine has exhibited in Switzerland, New York and Milan. She has built her own private atelier in Switzerland's famous ski resort Verbier, where she presently works and resides. Oriental Desire, is a new body of work based on Madeleine's ongoing exploration of the Eastern themed nude woman.

Swiss-American by culture, nomadic by nature, she has travelled the world and appreciates the eclecticism of various lifestyles and artistic tendencies. It is difficult to separate the anthropological, and dream-like qualities embodied in her work. Both magical and mysterious, the women bathe in gold, Chinese Calligraphy and Indian wood block stamps. Her mixed use of Calligraphy and Indian stamps, creates a symbolic narrative of a traveller's exploration. Her main themes are figurative, revolving around the female face and body. The female nude, strongly outlined in dark contours, is offered sensually on gold backdrops, emerging in variations of celadon green, inspired from ancient Chinese porcelain, Today, Madeleine works mainly in charcoal, Chinese shellac (crushed beetle shells) and gold pigment, delicately staining the canvas and creating a softness similar to silk. She is especially interested in Asian applications of ink to paper and in her work, borrows many techniques from Japanese silk prints and Indian material wood block printing. She is thus able to transform her canvases into pools of depth and sensuality, and with just a few strokes, captures an essence of female beauty. Small and large works, even some paravan-screens, tell their story in diptiques and triptiques: the nude woman, echos visions of the East, in the firm gesture of a an artist rooted in Western culture.

Madeleine Paternot was born in California in 1972, of an American mother and Swiss father. She spent her childhood in Switzerland and England. Although completely bilingual, she was a rather shy student spending most of her time hiding in the art studio. At 18 she was convinced that a career in the Arts, would lead nowhere, so she decided to study Cultural Anthropology at Vassar College, New York, graduating with a BA in 1995. Whilst at Vassar, she discovered the intellectual theories of Orientalism and concentrated her studies on women and marketing in the Middle East. In order to complete her degree, she spent 6 months in Morocco, which invariably influenced her creative eye. Her thesis the French Visual Habitus : an analysis of Fashion and Taste was recognized by the Director of the Royal Anthropological Society in London. With a diploma under her belt and a job offer in Paris awaiting, Madeleine Paternot, decided to travel one last time. She travelled to New Zealand, via Japan and was completely transformed by this trip. She now wanted to be an artist.

Madeleine returned to London in 1996 and seriously started to paint and create. As a self-taught artist, her studies were an in-exhaustible source of inspiration for her work. She was considered an "outsider artist", due to her obsession with figurative work, which was not at all the flavour of her artistic peers. She explored the growing trends of global travel and cross-cultural decoration, as a spring-board for her work. She wanted her art to live within the context of the "interior designed home". Her anthropological fascination for issues of taste and culture, as well as her inherent talent for painting, launched her in the art world. Just 6 months into her artistic career, a gallery discovered her and offered her, her first solo show in London in 1998. Her work ideology, often perceived as confrontational, intermingles Fine Art and Interior Design, as she is especially influenced, by English interior gurus, such as Terence Conran and Kelly Hoppen.

In her own words: "In the 19th century the theories of Orientalism change the course of art history. Writers and artist are the first to utilize these ideas as a way to open a door on a sub-conscious need for evasion and dreams. It is this quest for the dream, which fascinates me in contemporary life. We borrow objects from other cultures to give us the impression of escape and having well travelled the planet. During the 19th century, this movement required the artist to affirm their presence within another culture, thus creating a strong language of portraiture. I place myself in the similar situation; who am I within this cross-cultural framework? I have spent the last year of my work defining myself in the mirror of my canvases" (interview Paris 2006).

Today, Madeleine works mainly in charcoal, Chinese shellac (crushed beetl shells) and gold pigment, delicately staining the canvas. Her main themes are figurative, revolving around the female face and body. She is especially interested in Asian applications of ink to paper and in her work has utilized many techniques from Japanese silk prints and Indian material wood block printing. Her mixed use of Calligraphy and Indian stamps, surrounding her nudes, creates a symbolic narrative of a traveller's exploration. She is thus able to transform her canvases into pools of depth and sensuality, and with just a few strokes, captures an essence of female beauty.

Vernissage: 12th march, 2008, 6 to 9 pm

Mews42 / Vanessa Suchar
42 Princes Gate Mews - London
Opening times: Noon to 7pm Tuesdays and Wednesdays and by appointment +44 (0) 7887 991 932
Free admission

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