Sophie Barthélémy

I chose the color in my work. Faced with the complexity of the world, driven by the need for beauty, I live in the bubble of my painting, keeping myself away from the trends of contemporary art. Trained at the Fine Arts, I was initially a video artist before shifting to painting, which I now practice permanently. My poetic universe flourishes and alternates in series, between figures, landscapes, or still lifes. These seemingly conventional subjects say everything about my approach, which is purely focused on color. Color is my obsession, while the subjects are often secondary for me. It took me years of practice to move beyond my early years of portraits to tackle landscapes; I wanted to achieve a form of freedom, to be able to paint anything, as long as I reached aesthetic satisfaction. To create my own pictorial writing in order to recreate the world in a way. Painting for me is an Ode to Life, that is why I paint, to express my joy, no matter if the message seems outdated. I have been collaborating with galleries since 1995. My videos are at Heure Exquise, a center for the preservation of video art.