Marie-Hélène Blanck (1964)

 

Interview between Marie-Hélène Blanck and Catherine Pennec on 25 April 2024

 

CP: Marie-Hélène, when did you first realise that you needed your brushes and pencils to thrive?

MHB: A long time ago, I was still in nursery school.

 

CP: What drives you in your artistic journey?

MHB: My journey is marked by exploration.

Since 2020, I have been intensively dedicated to painting. Drawing is also part of my research.

My work explores the interactions between light and colour, between spaces, surfaces and lines, between abstract and figurative, evocation and reverie.

 

CP: When looking at your paintings, one notices that material plays an important role in your creative process...

MHB: Indeed, my paintings are born from a meticulous process, characterised by thin and multiple layers, often monochrome.

Observation, questioning and experimentation combine and intertwine, allowing my work to progress. This approach fosters the development of ideas, reflection on the choice of materials and techniques, and intensive practice based on these choices.

 

CP: You have training as an architect and interior designer, so one imagines that everything is meticulously organised and anticipated...

MHB: Not really. My artistic process leaves a significant place for chance.

After each layer, a phase of meticulous observation guides my decisions for the subsequent interventions.

This play between chance and considered intervention makes possible the flourishing of colour and texture in the work in progress.

The material can also be wiped, scratched, carved, to reveal traces of previous interventions or the support.

It is important then to identify the moment when the work of successive layers will come to an end.

Afterwards, I decide if this work should be enriched by graphic elements.

These can, for example, establish visual connections or bring a symbolic dimension to the work.

 

CP: What type of paint do you work with and on what type of support?

MHB:  I use a lot of acrylic which is more suited to my working process and lends itself to close working phases. I favour cardboard as a support because it is suitable for both deep interventions and surface work.

 

CP: Your works often reveal shades of grey, beige, red, sometimes blue. Do you limit yourself to a restricted palette of colours?

MHB: Nature inspires me and I think that explains the palette of grey, beige, ochre, red, also blue and green. The countless colours of the mineral, vegetable, aquatic world, the colours of the earth, are reflected in my work.

 

CP: What tools do you work with?

MHB: I use various tools: brushes, spatulas, scrapers, trowels, awls, sanders, drills, sewing machines, etc.

 

CP: Would you say you work quickly or slowly?

MHB: The process of developing my work takes time: time to think about the idea, time to do, observe, undo, observe, explore, ... so yes, I work slowly.

 

CP: What subjects inspire your approach?

MHB: My work explores various themes such as fragility, the passage of time, nature, connections, human relationships, the woman at different stages of her life.

 

CP: Do these themes stand out to those who observe your works?

MHB: My work offers visitors the possibility of an authentic encounter, where each can freely explore their own perception and interpretation of the presented work.

 

CP: Are you tempted to explore a more figurative style?

MHB: I have already done so and will certainly do so again, especially on the theme of the woman at different stages of her life: little girl, teenager, young woman, mother, old woman.

 

CP: Would you say that your activity as an interior designer also nourishes your artistic passion and that the latter allows you to enrich your ideas and concepts in your profession as an interior designer?

MHB: Interior design is a field where the perception of space, light, and colour plays an important role. Visual interactions are constructed that determine the qualities of a three-dimensional space. Artistic practice, whether in two or three dimensions, allows for the creation of visual interactions, through colour, material, composition, etc., that can evoke emotions and questions. For me, the two activities enrich each other through an exchange of references, know-how, and unexpected possibilities, opening up paths to explore in each of them.

 

CP: You have been living in Germany since 2000. Have you been inspired by certain German artists?

MHB: Spontaneously I think of Paul Klee, Hans Hartung, Gego, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter, Maria Eichhorn, and many others.

 

CP: Have you met a person or come across a work that has particularly inspired you?

MBH:  I regularly participate in artistic seminars and have met two artists there, Frank Hempel and Michael Danner, with whom I have had fruitful exchanges and discussions for several years.

 

CP: Which artist, living or dead, would you dream of meeting?

MHB: Paul Klee, Gego, among others.

 

CP: Conversely, can you identify contemporary or deceased artists about whom you think, "I really don't understand what he/she wants to convey"?

MHB: I generally try to grasp an artist's approach and intentions. Their history interests me. It is important to enter their universe. I rarely leave an exhibition with a feeling of total incomprehension. What I have seen can also leave me with impressions that will make me simply say, "it's not my cup of tea."

 

CP: What is the work you are most proud of?

MHB: It is rather the culmination of my journey, the fact that I continue my path with art, in art, that I have definitively embarked on this adventure.

 

CP: What music do you listen to while working on a piece?

MHB: I often work without music. When I do listen to it, it's quite eclectic, jazz, baroque, nuevo tango, among others. I often choose a sound of an instrument, piano, cello, double bass, bandoneon, oud, etc.

 

CP: A literary/poetic work that inspires you more than anything in life?

MHB: It’s not easy to think of a single work. So I will answer by mentioning an encounter that left traces among others. In the early 1990s, I discovered Fernando Pessoa's "The Book of Disquiet" on a shelf at a Fnac in Paris. It was a strong moment.

 

CP: What scares you the most today?

MHB: The numerous disorders that produce exclusion, violence, precariousness, loneliness, ...

 

CP: What makes you confident despite everything?

MHB: Human capacity to react, rebound.

 

CP: Have you noticed differences in approaches between German and French cultural policies?

MHB: It is a subject I still know little about and am currently exploring.

 

CP: Why exhibit in Clermont-Ferrand?

MHB: Clermont-Ferrand is my hometown and it almost naturally came to me the idea and desire to exhibit there, a way