Hello, this is for a certificate of authenticity
Mara couldn’t believe her eyes: a painting Untitled vanished since a grand exhibition at the Hôtel de Crillon in the spring of 2006.I still remember the document I sent to introduce myself. Through Dominique Stal, auctioneer and expert in modern art, I had the opportunity to participate in this exhibition. Le Crillon wasn’t nothing. “
On D-Day, May 19, Mara went to the City of Lights to drop off her painting and attend the opening. “I slept at a friend’s house and the next day I left again.“When the exhibition ended, as the weeks and months passed, the young artist never recovered her painting and lost track of it.”I tried to get in touch but never got a response.“(read opposite)… until 5-6 years ago”when the new owner contacted me for a certificate of authenticity. I wasn’t going to do one when I had never been paid for it.“This one had in fact been awarded during a judicial sale of which the designer was unaware of the holding.”Canvases are made to live but here, the departure went badly. Every time I deal with her, it hits me. I obviously couldn’t blame this person who had the good taste to buy, in good faith and legally, my painting. But, immediately after making contact, I filed a complaint with the French gendarmerie. “Investigation carried out and closed, the complaint arrived too late.
At the time of the auction, the piece was estimated at €2,000 – €2,200. Today, you can buy it for €500 on Le Bon Coin, a well-known second-hand site.
From sewing to sutures, a handmade canvas from A to Z
According to her memories, Mara had to pay “a little something“to access the Crillon picture rails.”But no more, I didn’t have the means. “Indeed, the one meter by one meter painting, with its gradient exploring the thousand varieties of blue and a little orange, was created from scratch. Starting with its base material.”In 2005, I was at the Beaux-Arts in Namur, taking Jean-Pierre Gonthier’s course, I was struggling to make ends meet, I wasn’t eating enough, friends were helping me. But this constraint allowed me a lot of things. As I didn’t have the money to buy painting canvases, I started making them, using my sewing experience. I took four pieces of wood, collected scraps of unused fabric and put them together. I worked on opacity and light, the feeling but also on the materials, on the way of hanging them, of stretching them differently, of tearing them. There was real research and a story for each piece, each suture. Which would become important in my work. “
Mara found her way, her way of doing things, but was deprived of the joy of selling it under good conditions. “So, obviously, I would be happy to get this painting back. But it would be a pain in the ass to pay €500.“Nevertheless, a crowdfunding idea is gaining ground.
