Preface

By Aurelie Philippe

First it should be said that my paintings have been greatly influenced by my work as a textile designer. The quest for plastic aesthetic, for harmony, contrast or complementarity in the colors, the quest for balanced composition, and the quest for repeated distinct patterns, are all the textile designer aim.

Something that I particularly enjoy when creating is to play with what I am creating, that is why I like mixing collages, fabrics, photographs, different kind of materials and papers. But I also enjoy using different mediums all together in order to texturize my work even more. Some paintings literally become 3D.

Color is a very important aim to me has it has a real well known power to convey emotions to the spectator. They also are the reflection of the artist inner mood and emotions. That is where those who create and those who contemplate can communicate.

First theme

Theme of "Across my window" is all about intimacy and privacy. The purpose here was to contrast the coldness and the impersonality of the world beyond our windows, in the streets and in the city, with the intimacy and privacy that exists inside each window. We don't know what's happening so far, but home is really the place of truthfulness, where people reveal what they really are inside.

The colors contrast the warmth of inside, with a pale, bright and dramatic orange color, with the coldness of outside depicted by a deep dark blue. Night keeps all the secrets... Of what's taking place behind the window.

Second theme

This theme is a research of a textile impression pattern. Colors are bright and vivid, the reflection of profoundhappiness. It's all about lightness and naivety.

Third theme

Being a textile designer, the theme about "my wardrobe" also situates itself in a research of textures and colors, and finally definite patterns that appears at the end of the series.

Fourth theme

The fourth theme is all about the underground world. So as to discover the secrets that it has to offer, I started an earth digging....So I dug deeper and deeper into the soil that stand under our feet. This is where we actually come to know who we are and where we originally all come from. This is where humankind History is written and delicately preserved for us to discover and keep it as a treasure. So in this section colors are dominated by brown and yellow ochre. To render the texture and the consistency of the soil I used some crude pigments and different textures such as fabrics and collages.

As my work could be associated to the one of an archeologist, or a geologist, very often the composition will use layers, as to imitate the stratums found in the ground. And inside those stratums, this is where fossils and intact objects are revealed to us.

Then my work was about collecting those pieces and make up like a collection. So the composition looked more like a compilation of discoveries. More collages and fabrics were used, to make it 3D looking. It is like writing a story. The humankind history. And more...our personal history, made of memories, that we put together like a puzzle and lie down on paper, as to not to forget. It is about collecting those memories and to immortalize them.

Then, as a biologist, the further I went down into the ground, the deeper I went into my search work. So next step was to analyze what was discovered through the lens of a microscope. And then, tiny fossils, imprints, and cells started to be brought to life. The infinitesimal world that can not be seen with the naked eyes was at last revealed to us with all it's truthfulness.

Lots of my paintings have also developed the theme of the horizon line. Between the heavy and meaningful ground, and a wide free sky floats a beautiful horizon line. I tried to make this barrier disappear. Sky and ground now communicate as one.

Fifth theme

This theme is about plants and stripes. It situates itself in a research of repeated patterns, also called the "All Over".The textile design market is dominated by flowers patterns.The research was mostly esthetic and graphic, in order to use it later as a textile impression. It s all around the stripe theme, but I also played on the contrasts between shapes, colors and textures:curves and lines, shadows and lights, incisive and soft shapes. The influence was more Japanese.

About Aurelie Philippe

She was born in1983 in Valence, France. 2004 Graduated from Diderot Applied Arts School of Lyon, France. Knowledge in computer graphics, embroidery, textile industry, knitting, weaving, textile art history, painting, drawing, photography. 2009, Solo Exhibition in the Kilternan Gallery, Dublin, UK. Collages and acrylics, about stylized flowers and imaginary landscapes. 2010, Solo Exhibition in the Solart Gallery, Dublin, UK.

About the exhibition

Dates: 25 Jan - 26 Fer, 2014, 10:00-22:00

Venue: Kui Yuan Gallery

Opening: 25 Jan, 2014, Sat, 15:00

Tel: 020-87659746

Add: No.9, Xuguyuan Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou

Courtesy of the artist and Kui Yuan Gallery.