Marianne Simonin
Marianne Simonin is a French artist whose work shifts between figurative and abstraction in order to explore various states of mind. Nature, female identity and memory of personal histories are her main themes. Her spiritual path may also appears in her work symbolically from time to time.
She started painting professionally when she took her first studio in Vauxhall. Her late start in the art world made her find it difficult to position herself as a female artist. Over the years however she decided to listen more and more to her intuition and now she explores what really resonates in her heart.
About her practice, she shares, “With a great interest in the human psyche and the experience of life I use the human figure as a thread to revive deep felt emotions or memories that people can relate to in general. I am also interested in abstraction and the harmony of colours in which case I am inspired either by nature or by my natural instinctive gestural strokes.
I work essentially in oils for the flexibility of the medium, but also acrylics, charcoal and inks. When working on large format I like to ‘flood’ my painting on the floor, creating a momentum between chance and control, thus feeding the next stages of the work in progress. The titles I use are part of the creative process and at times they initiate the work.”
She has exhibited in various galleries, solo shows and group shows. Recently her work was at the Contemporary Art Festival in Deux-Sevres (France), she has shown at the Willesden gallery in August 2021 and her work has been shown at the Centre Pompidou-Metz Salon de l'edition No1, with Gallerie 379 Nancy.