I always try not to develop specific themes repeated on different sheets of paper. But, for instance, one of my last series named Notturni, treated day or artificial light in contrast with the night…These contrasts pursue dichotomies such as man confronted with animal, inside with outside…or stereotypes that keep coming back and reveal themselves to be in constant opposition. The dimension of captivity is also very significant in my work, that of man or animal; the undomesticated savage faced with domesticity. This specific series, elaborated like a film storyboard, was developed in a small village located in the centre of Italy, and has inspired these archetypes.  

In this series, as in my work in general, the nature of the game is mainly to change the viewpoint as the intention may seem “classic” at first glance. Indeed, one of the first scenes in Notturni shows a still-life with a landscape, therefore atemporal themes… before the perspective changes, it is almost as if we could go into this still life. Another drawing takes us out of the house so that we see this scene from the outside, as if we were in the garden. Therefore, the theme evolves permanently and uses a lot of the language from cinema.

I do indeed admire Pablo Picasso a great deal, he used to transform his drawings and gave each line so much meaning. When I draw, I also like to change my style, even within a series. Picasso was able to make the image evolve indefinitely as a demonstration of the mutation in his thought process. Although, of course, all of art history is important, I do like playing with misunderstandings and errors. For instance, in the Bibliothèque Richelieu I was fascinated by an engraving about the discovery of America which inspired my interpretation of the Garden of Earthly Delights. This is a subject that I was interpreting when I went to fetch my girlfriend at the airport, trying to enhance the space and the time spent on the motorway. I was plunged into an atemporal world, which recently was translated into a large tapestry, experimenting with time or the connection between the urban and the natural.

I do not have such a specific intention, nor of introducing very precise references, in the end what I borrow from art history always seems to me to be very natural.

This enables me especially to talk about captivity and create a model in an interior which takes shape in the series. The subject enters a “first screen”, then comes out and then returns, like in a film. I take the language of the 7th art and apply it to painting. This is the cinema looking at painting by changing the viewpoint and by developing the movements from one drawing to another, from one series to another. I also refer to the Pergamon Alter, today located in Berlin, which was a kind of cinema in Antiquity. I am interested in looking at how a subject repeats itself, like a litany.

I think in a kind of prism around which I start to create my drawings. At the very beginning, I have a conceptual idea or a set of sensations and ideas. Then, I must deal with the materials I use. If it is only ink, I trace the first basic outline, then a second. There might be a sort of opposition between the idea and what must be inscribed on the paper. So, it is necessary to leave some freedom regarding what the drawing itself is adding… What I have in mind often emerges in a different way on contact with the paper. In the same way, my series do not have a defined number, as they are dependent on the flow of my thoughts. This flow continues from drawing to drawing, therefore evolving like a game leading to new creations. The rules in the series are changed each time, then when they are completed, the work is finished.

What interests me is the change in the viewpoint between man and animal. This is also why I like cinema, more than any specific film director, I look at the technical part of the directing. For example, the main characters are in a car, then we see them in the reflection in the eye of a horse. We observe them in turn from the inside or the outside.
Some of my images may also recall medieval codes, as I like to develop a variety of narrations. I can still start from a book like George Perec’s Life, A User’s Manual. This is perfect for me as each chapter tackles different themes, from the thriller to romance… this is a good example for understanding how I construct my series. But in a certain way, all the stories in this work are tragedies, told with humorous detachment and encyclopaedia-like madness.    

No, I would keep it humorous, but I also like the One thousand- and one-nights stories in their different constructions. Pablo Picasso also used to transform codes and I allow myself to go from him to Rembrandt or Jean Cocteau… I like these changes in viewpoints and languages which are then comprehended as a whole, because, finally, we are reading a unique story. I describe the human being through time and changing codes.  

No, I would keep it humorous, but I also like the One thousand- and one-nights stories in their different constructions. Pablo Picasso also used to transform codes and I allow myself to go from him to Rembrandt or Jean Cocteau… I like these changes in viewpoints and languages which are then comprehended as a whole, because, finally, we are reading a unique story. I describe the human being through time and changing codes.

It is true that at the beginning of the 19th century, numerous forms of ideology began to develop as well as perhaps a search for the absolute. But I nurture another form of conviction and whenever I refer to art history, I also attempt to employ a simple alphabet and a vocabulary shared by everyone. Narration in a series starts from the desire to build a new alphabet, easily divisible, rather than constructing something new which would not really address the viewer. I wish to translate or betray stereotypes and return to symbols. Look at one side or the other with a methodology of language that is open to everyone, like a stratification.

Yes, they are pastel tonalities or refer to the tempera used for paintings. I produce a lot, so I dedicate myself to an image, then I go on to another but, in the end, I show very few works. Anyhow, the tapestry I have been experimenting with lately is going to lead me to brighter colours.

Yes, they are somewhat intimate formats but soon I am going to get down to creating bigger dimensions. Finally, I realize that I have been doing the same thing since childhood…I was already drawing horsemen with horses, fire or even women and flowers… as if I was always repeating the same image. But what I especially like about developing series and selecting the drawings is that it is always the onlooker who recreates the missing scene. Each person can imagine whatever they want and can make up their own scenario of the story…

Marie Maertens
February 2025