Marie Legras Plazanet’s next exhibition is planned in Tence at the TEC, around her latest paintings and engravings. The opening is planned for Saturday, September 14 at 6 p.m. accompanied by readings by Brigitte Prevost and a musical performance with the group La Ronce. The exhibition is held from September 13 to October 13.
“My creation, it is there, it springs forth. It is like a stranger in me who speaks. I find my inspiration by looking at nature, people in the street, the links between them, their movements, their gestures. It is a work on the body. I record the lights, the contrasts, a movement, an expression. My recent work is agitated by the rumors of the world, the soul of the world is in pain and I love it all the same.”
She continues: “I have an eagerness to create, like an urgent need. Sketches by the hundreds. I work in series. Like a quest for harmony through the line, an affirmed tenderness, populated by the strong gentle. A universe of traces and stains that reflects my perception of the world, this was already the case in my technique as a ceramicist.”
Based in Ardèche
A student at the Beaux-Arts in Lyon in the 80s, she started out as a painter and metal sculptor and then had a 20-year career as a ceramist. “Painting and engraving have accompanied me throughout my career. Today I devote myself entirely to them.” Having lived in Ardèche in Saint-Basile for over 30 years, this is where she has her studio.
“Since childhood, I have been immersed in an artistic environment. My artist parents taught me to look and to remember. To capture the moment. They passed on to me the culture of beauty. I am fully in line with the artists of the Greek period, the Phoenicians, the Fayoum portraits, the Rodin museum where I spent a long time as a student, Marc Chagall, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gérard Garouste who keeps an eye on me, a portrait of him sits in my studio!”
Colors close to the earth
“An idea comes to me and I develop it into dozens of works. In engraving I use the drypoint technique. In painting, I start with ink on paper, I thicken with oil, sometimes even with used oil. And I outline with oil pastel. I allow myself imprecisions as soon as the whole painting seems coherent to me. I always use the same palette of colors, close to the earth. Mars red, red ochre, Naples yellow, Payne’s gray, black, ultramarine blue.”
Exhibition in Tence visible on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., at TEC (Tence cultural space) 1, rue du Collège 43190 Tence.
