Artistic approach
Nature is Marie Denis’ “nurturing substance” and she makes use of a wide range of creative techniques: braiding, assemblage, sculptures and vegetable transformation no longer hold any secrets for her, as is evidenced by the palm trees, branches and foliages that she reinvents and beautifies with the most delicate of touches.
Marie Denis is a tireless collector of unusual objects of all kinds, subtly mixing the natural with the artificial and making use of free associations of images and thoughts around the idea of nature, creating phantasmagorical herbariums or “patiences”. She has unlocked every secret there is in recycling, assemblage, telescoping and reworking all manner of objects.
Marie Denis is constantly in dialogue with the shapes that nature takes. She reworks her herbariums and “sculptures of curiosities” in an assertive dialogue with heritage.
She likes to revisit her work regularly, by further developing the formats and perfecting the materials. "Sampling" her herbarium variations with a view to constantly honing her personal preferences when it comes to Nature and Cabinets of Curiosities. For the Donkey Sanctuary at Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, the artist has unveiled an altogether bold vegetal showpiece. Naturalist forms, sequenced out of rough wood, brass patina, pale gold and graphite black contrasted against the white of the earthenware. Her subjective research delves into the following themes:
- The herbarium
- The Cabinet of curiosities
- Still life.
A brightly coloured world which views nature, its beauty and fragility as if through a kaleidoscope.
The artist’s acknowledgements
"I am enormously grateful to Philipe Marin from the Maison MARIN, the structure ARTELINEHA, Maxime François from FLEURASSISTANCE, the Galerie Kamila REGENT, Antonni KRUCZEK, the teams of GEANT DES BEAUX-ARTS and BRICORAMA, not forgetting Yan QI & Geng TAN of course, and Maurice BAZIRE". Marie Denis
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Marie DENIS
FRANCE
Marie Denis was born in Bourg-Saint-Andéol, Ardèche, in 1972. She lives in Paris and works wherever she finds herself.
After studying at Lyon’s School of Fine Arts, she spent 1999 as a resident at Villa Medici
Her work is sculptural, and the “realms” of nature are the common theme running through it. Her sculptures, objects and photographs enjoy turning rules and knowhow to their own ends in order to poeticise them. Over twenty years spent in the plant world; exhibits out in the landscape or indoors, fine and adjusted.
A particular fondness for herbariums, which take a range of forms: photographed, engraved, sculpted, with mineral patina sheens or captured between 2 glass plates. All examples of research that magnify and probe the facets of plants.
Marie Denis’ work spans varied knowhow – harking back to her father, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France) for embroidered illustrations. Crafts shared with cabinetmakers, hairdressers, dressmakers, metalworkers, straw, wicker and other specialists tap into ideas that go beyond mere technique. A vegetal journey infusing matter with poetry.
Marie Denis is represented by the Galerie Alberta Pane and the Galerie Kamila Régent.
