THE ULTRA-VIVID GIANT SIZED PORTRAITS BY FRANÇOISE NIELLY ARE LOVED BY ART FANS, COLLECTORS AND FASHIONISTAS ALIKE AND IT’S NOT HARD TO SEE WHY.
FULL OF COLOUR AND EXCITEMENT HER SUBJECT’S SOUL IS BROUGHT TO LIFE THROUGH CANVAS.
How would you describe your painting style?
I would describe my painting style as figurative and abstract at the same time. I work as much on the eyes of my subjects as on the space that surrounds them. I revisit the idea of portrait through color and through the cut forms that come with the palette knife.
When did you first discover your artistic talents?
I started designing as a child in the architectural offices of my father’s business. I was born in a creative and an artistic milieu. I never really asked the question why art attracted me. Quite simply, I worked alone and then for years in advertising, a milieu that I found very creative. I learned a lot through my work in advertising.
What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?
Painting is my veritable spine. It is what keeps me alive and that gives me the energy to greet each day, knowing that I’m going to have a myriad of surprises, good and bad. Something is going to happen on the canvas.
Who and what are your main influences?
The classics are what surrounded my childhood and my adolescence. Picasso, de Kooning, Soulages, Hartung, Lucien Freud, etc… I am very attracted to street art. I find some of these new artists extraordinary.
What soundtrack do you like to work to?
It depends on the period and especially on what I am doing at the moment. Music is often in the background, because my manner of working is too immediate and demands real concentration. To give you an idea, I would say that I often listen to hip hop, rap, jazz, soul…
Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
I never feel alone when I paint. After it is another story entirely. I paint for the emotion it evokes in me. It is sort of a drug or an addiction, and I love the company of artists and people who work in images, but in my everyday life, I find myself, like nearly everyone, at a certain time surrounded by the banalities of daily existence. It is in those times that I find it hard to connect with the energy that is necessary to discover that little fascinating detail that can distance me from loneliness.
How do you feel painting is perceived in the art world today?
For a very long time, painting was considered as an old lady. Today I think that old lady is rejuvenating more-and-more. Painting is more present in the art market where it is returning with real force. Painting is included in all of the large art sales and galleries all over the world. Painting began in the grottos and will be with us even when the world ceases to exist; at least that is my belief.
What do you dislike about the art world?
The seriousness, the snobbism, the clans.
