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    Elodie M Richard

     

     ARTIST STATEMENT

Elodie M Richard - Working at the atelie

ART STATEMENT

 

‘’We know what we are, but not what we may be’’

IDENTITY

So what?

 

 

Unlike a superficial society that gets lost in ultra consumption, With her paintings and watercolored illustrations, Elodie creates a refined, symbolic and meditative world in which evolve the human figure, archetypes and elements of the psyche. Her work focuses on the broad notion of ''Identity'' and shows a tension between the personal and the collective elements in man. What brings her pieces together is her graphic language and propensity to educate the eye at seeing things differently, her attention to composition, line and color work, the use of bold colors and atmospheric lighting. Elodie often says that the act of drawing, through her illustrations as well as with her paintings, is what drives her ideas and the color work enhances them.

 

Cultural identity, ancestry, current events such as the worldwide pandemic, immigration, environmental issues, our connection/disconnection to nature, war, but also storytelling and imagination impact her contemporary graphic language and art.  Her artistic influences vary from the Polish School of posters of Warsaw (for the graphic and color use), Kazimir Malevich (Polish Ukrainian Russian avant-garde artist) and social realism propaganda art. She is also influenced by the art of the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi (for his subdued paintings of interiors), and the ancient master Pieter Bruegel the Elder ( known for his landscapes and peasants scenes). She often incorporates humor and irony to her work around the human condition. The paintings may seem vibrant but they camouflage an uncertainty in our modern times.

 

Her current work ‘’Identity at War’’ is focused on the war happening in Ukraine: 

Getting back to her Central European roots, she seeks the essence of drawing with her graphic watercolored and ink illustrations on thick pure cotton hand-made paper. Instead of showing the obvious atrocities of war, she wants to express a vision of war in Ukraine that finds strength in those moments solidarity and humanity, and suggests the horrific through a poetic linear art where color and symbols address ideas about Ukraine or its Oppressor. Channelling the atrocities of war while seeking the essential and simplicity to initiate the deepest emotions in us is her challenge. 

 

With ‘’Saved by Nature’’, ’’Rite of Passage’’, ’’Life in the City’’, Elodie puts in perspective her own life experiences with the universal issues of reconnecting with nature, the difficulties of growing into adulthood/society and the discomforts/alienations of living in the city. These chapters keep growing with life experiences. The narratives are interpreted in a personal manner by the viewer connecting with his/her own life story. 

 

‘’We know what we are, but not what we may be’’

 

Identity is everything but simple,…. I am seeking for a graphic simplicity to express its complexity and the deep emotions mankind is made with. 

Elodie M. Richard

                                    

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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