Extract. NZ 2007 DSCF6853 (2007) Photography by Marie-Pierre

MARIE-PIERRE

Painter and Photographer


Lyrical Extraction - Abstract Photography
TEXTE & CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHIQUE: MARIE-PIERRE © 2023 Marie-Pierre - All right reserved. Tous droits de reproduction, même partielle, réservés pour tous pays.




Art Works Information

Limited Edition Photography of 1 original only on sale that is always signed and dedicated by the hand of the artist.

1 print may be used for promotion and exhibitions, but never sold (unless through Auction sale to get or increase its quotation), or donated to a Museum, a Cultural or Governmental Association; 1 print is always kept by the Artist for her records.


Copyright:
Marie-Pierre will keep the copyright of all her photographs (including for any copies, such as posters, postcards, etc.) - unless there is a special sale agreement about copyright transfer between the Artist and the Collector.


Current Dimensions:
Custom made at no extra cost: i.e. upon your request --as long as the quality of the photo can be supported by its enlargement ...so, please ask!

Presentation:
Printing custom made at no extra cost: i.e. upon your request --under plexiglass, or on paper, metal, canvas..., ready to hang on the wall (but sorry, no framing available), this is up to your choice, please ask!



BIOGRAPHY:



Marie-Pierre produced her first artwork in 1973. From that time, she specialized in oil pastel painting, learning from the art works of famous Masters. In the meantime, photography has become another passion. She is receiving international acclaim on numerous occasions from select press and TV reports in France, USA, Hawaii, Monaco and Spain, etc.



Marie-Pierre graduated with a Master’s Degree in Art History and has been a member of Comité National Monégasque de l’AIAP-UNESCO. Nowadays, she is a member of IAA-UNESCO and ARTAC Mexico. She has lived in Hawaii and San Francisco, USA; she is currently travelling “The World” where she finds inspiration for her art, teaches her techniques, and exhibits. Since 1992, she has had 34 Personal Exhibitions in France, Spain, USA, Hawaii, Monaco, Tahiti (1993 to 2008) - 15 Group Exhibitions, including Monaco (AIAP-UNESCO, 1999, 2000); México (VIème EURO-AMERICAN-AIAP-UNESCO VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION / CAMPECHE, MEXICO, 2009); France (1992, 1993, Salon des Artistes Indépendants, Le Grand Palais, Paris, 2010; Salon Art, Cannes, 2011; Salon Who’s Who Art Club International, Giverny, 2012 ; Salon Art Shopping, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2012), Mauritius (Port-Louis, 2011); Japan (International Art Exchange, Hyogo Museum, Kobe, 2012) ; Peru (VI EuroAmericana, Museum, Cusco, 2012). Part of numerous Worlwide Private and Public Collections (such as Institute of Fine Art Museum, Campeche, Mexico ; Hyogo Museum, Kobe, Japan; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Cusco, Peru; etc.). Marie-Pierre’s Artwork is published in “Important World Artists”, WW Art Books, Santa Barbara, Cal. USA, 2013. Among other Distinctions, she was honored with “EXCELLENT PRIZE” at Hyogo Museum, Kobe, Japan, 2012;“HONORABLE MENTION” by ARTAVITA Gallery Contest, July 2012, Santa Barbara, California, USA ; “DIPLOMA of HONOR” by the City of Cusco, Peru, 2012 ; and “NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO CONTEST 2012”, National Geographic Society, Washington, USA, 2012.




ART PHILOSOPHY:

«Art is within nature, we have to extract it» said Albrecht Dürer. These photos are part of a series of Abstract Photographs «Lyrical Extraction», all representations of the reality, a testimony of discoveries made by the artist in nature. It leads the viewer to let go on an imaginary travel and finish the artwork.



“Marie-Pierre presents her recent works: “Lyrical Extractions”, a series of abstract photographs. Her images are pure discoveries and experimental artworks. The viewer is invited to investigate them and let him/herself discover inner travels they inspire. These photographs are original because the camera of Marie-Pierre, her efficient eye partner, often instantly catches them. Through these pictures, she drives us to the invisible, or to get a different vision. Her photographs are like keys that open to the world of imaginary travels. The artist welcomes you in the country of daydreams…”. (ALLIANCE FRANCAISE, Madrid, Spain, Oct. 2008).





ART TECHNIQUE:

No program is used to compose these photos; only the artist eye and lots of chance to see and catch the invisible are necessary.



As an Artist recently converted to the medium of "photo ", I find myself at the culmination of a 35-year intense painting experience. From this new vantage point, thanks to the tremendous technological leaps in photography, my Untitled Abstract Photography works were born, which I call : “Lyrical Extraction”

… But, what are the techniques used?

All my photos are representations of the reality, the testimony of discoveries made in nature and at random, thanks to the purely artistic eye of a painter which guides me and interpolates lines and colors, forms and materials, lighting and composition. It is a work of research suggestive of New Realism, and the outcome, Surrealism which virtually brings the spectator to the edge of a “new Automatic Writing”.

It is through the “reading” of these pictures, that the magic appears to the viewer! In fact, to the “purely painterly reading” which first motivated my choice of the image, we can add, of course, a more “pragmatic reading”, about the origin of the photographed subject; but also - and I would say, especially - a "poetic reading" finally reveals itself to the viewer who sincerely allows himself to be swept away by the magic of the awakening dream to which he is invited in this imaginary journey. The imagination of the viewer, in fact, will complete the artwork – this is the reason why I refuse to give a representational title to my images …

... All of us are allowed to day dream …

Concerning the technique, a precision is imperative because - as it is specified in the text of " Presentation of the Work "- I always avoid any extravagant manipulation of my images in order to preserve all their spontaneity, their purity and their originality; the only " personal touches " that I allow myself, consist of the centering of the original subject and the control of the intensity of the light and colors of the images; and to the n°1 question that my works at times generate, I make it a point of honor to answer and to confirm that I NEVER USE any program (like Photoshop) to create or to compose my pictures.

I thus take this opportunity to pay tribute to this wonderful medium, photography, and to the excellent technical abilities of the current photographic equipment, without which "my artistic eye" and "my creative spirit" would not find the indispensable support and the echo to achieve these "Discoveries" and these "Experiments" and to then share them with the public!

In summary, what the advanced technology of today's cameras, combined with a long artistic experience, plus a dash of poetry and a curious and very fortunate eye - and without a doubt a touch of chance - gives to me is " the perfect equipment in the hunt for abstract pictures”, these selective discoveries, mesmeric, surprising and wonderful - which I give back to the public with pleasure and which permit me to indefinitely extend my long series of Lyrical Extraction!



Art Works Critics

ART CRITIC by WARREN POTASH, Photographer of Nature, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA, May 11, 2012, for « Lyrical Extraction », ABSTRACT PHOTO ARTWORKS of MARIE-PIERRE:
Marie-Pierre’s palette is her camera.
Her photos are like no other.
They are mysterious and magnetic.
They lead to the unexplored.
The journey must be a Whole New Experience if you are willing to open your imagination and relinquish control.


Marie-Pierre
ART PHILOSOPHY


"Art is within Nature, we have to extract it"
(Albrecht Dürer)

LYRICAL EXTRACTION by MARIE-¨PIERRE:


“I am not a photographer, nor a writer or a painter,
I am simply a collector of life’s offerings.”
Jacques Henri Lartigue

It is only after much soul searching, some trudging along and feeling my way through the dark, after extensive research, making amazing discoveries, chance meetings and many other life experiences, at times happy and at times not, that I finally honed a finer and clearer definition of art for myself.

Along with an increasingly curious and serendipitously proficient eye, and having become jaded by the day to day grind of our “adult world”, I developed a thirst for serenity, such as only it can be found in nature, as well as a deep yearning for the simple, laughing, carefree world of childhood as it is perhaps to us only attainable in daydreams. Thus are the makings, the leaven and the ingredients that through me have served to concoct these wonderful tidbits for which it gives me great pleasure to share them with you in the following pages if you will, ‘as a feast amongst friends”!

And since according to a Chinese proverb: ‘Sharing a meal opens the doors to Paradise”, I invite you to partake freely in this ‘Photographic harvest” so that maybe you too may ‘float on cloud nine”.

The keys to freedom may just be there in these magical images, escape awaits: look, see, dream, create and become children again as in simpler times!

Happy Imaginary Voyages,
Welcome to the land of daydreams
MARIE-PIERRE



ABSTRACTIONS
by MARIE-PIERRE:

‘Keeping an open eye on the invisible.”
(Léon Denis)

Weston considered that ‘art for art’s sake is a failure”, conversely, discovering and handing over the keys that unlock the path to ‘imaginary voyages” surely constitutes apotheosis for an artist, especially for the plastics artist who thus molds his art, (these ‘mute things” which so concerned Stendhal), into speaking visual arts, further fueling the as secular as impassioned debate of ‘Ut Pictura Poesis”. A combination of true values, ‘Visual Arts – Poetry” may however not undergo any outrageous transformation, be it scientific, technical or subjective, at the risk of seeing it disappear under the manipulator’s hand: one should take Siskind’s advice and be ‘as passive as possible”.

‘A poet must see things such as they are and must then show them to others in such a way that without him, they would not be able to see them”
Pierre Reverdy.

Thus, all these images that you are about to discover are unprecedented as they have randomly fallen upon my astonished eye, fashioned solely by nature’s elements. They are also original, often fleeting and born instantly before my camera lens, this lens which has now become an outgrowth and an accomplice to my eye, this eye desperately seeking what is invisible or that which is different. My camera is also the essential and perfect tool to capture, record and as faithfully as possible relay these images – communicating to us as many messages that hold the secret keys allowing access to Imaginary Voyages to which Dante refers in his ‘Divine comedy” or even Christine de Pizan in ‘Le livre du chemin de longue estude”. Christian Heck also has made an elegant case for Imaginary Voyages, as already described in the Middle Ages and appearing under the image of ‘The celestial scale”.

Like as many witnesses to its existence, my images’ purpose is to restore ‘the seventh face of the die” which Josef Sudek discusses in this great creator’s yet little known, unsigned and undedicated key work on the path to dreams and for which it can be justly said as Ernest Haas would have it: ‘Its colors express themselves and inherently give rise to emotions”. However, in keeping with Moholy’s concept of True Photography, I have neither tried to influence or to disturb the images so as to preserve the purity of the daydream into which the observer is drawn. I therefore refuse to attribute either figurative or suggestive titles to my images, by the same token refusing to direct the observer’s attention in any way. Only classification references may appear in coded language, devoid of any imaginary meaning.

‘To suggest is to create, to describe is to destroy”
Robert Doisneau.


EXPERIMENTATIONS
by MARIE-PIERRE:

“We have but one resource with death,
to make art before it comes”
(René Char)

If Mankind has never ceased inventing new media trying to reach artistic perfection, Nature, itself the primeval creator had, for eons, to rely on only four media to shape its works: water, air, fire and earth – what Talbot refers to as ‘the insults of time”. But let’s not forget Nature’s ultimate medium: organic life, which may also be viewed to encompass ‘Humanity”, finally come to make its contribution. Intelligent medium if there ever was, the plastics artist – or photographer may not lay claim to the title of artistic creator but at most to that of discoverer and assembler or maybe even to that of experimenter. At times objective, and at times more subjective this art is obviously experimental, since it is the product of incessant research, trial and error, and perpetual reworking.

‘Vanity of vanities, all photographers are such that they see themselves as creators”.
Blaise Cendars

Echoing Walker Evans, these works may not be construed as artistic creations in the primordial sense of Art History or for that matter in the way Michelangelo understood that ‘Arte e una cosa mentale”. My images are but pure discoveries as so many experimental works are, as Whistley had already tried to demonstrate. It is therefore left to the observer, should he so desire, to complete them and name them as he is inspired during his voyage which is what Pierre de Fenoyl termed ‘materializing a poetic intuition of reality”.

‘They are small steps on the path to a poetic representation of modest happiness”.
Willy Ronis

The artist would therefore become a creator only when he surpasses his own craft, when he doesn’t paint anymore, doesn’t sculpt anymore, doesn’t photograph anymore and he discovers the Key work, the ‘Ideal Image” as defined by Weston, the one that opens the doors to the most insane Imaginary voyages and the most marvelous daydreams. In short, there could therefore be no human creative process per se unless a discovery were such that it proved itself the ultimate means for escape along with its own gamut of resonance.

‘You wish to see, then listen: hearing is a degree of vision”.
Saint-Bernard de Clairvaux

I have always held hope in the existence of a parallel pathway that would take me back, one day, to this garden of dreams, a lost paradise but not a forgotten one, so close yet so far away it seems, for such a long time already. It’s as if through these photographic images was born the desire to take back this imaginary world and possibly restore it, but above all else to convey this opportunity for escape and creativity, thus confirming Siskind’s words: ‘One does not make a photograph all by himself”.

‘The physical eye never takes us far enough. I believe in the existence of another eye, linked to imagination: without this third eye there exists no ability to create”.
Clarence John Laughlin

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Abstract PhotographyPhotographyFine Art PhotographyContemporary ArtVisual Art