Isabelle Maynard
“Isabelle Maynard paints with a choreographic gesture. She is playing between coloured grey nebulae surfaces and nervous lines of forces.” said French journalist, H. Richard.
Isabelle’s paintings, some dark and intense shades of grays, others dreamy with airy whites, provide a great source of meditation and feelings. Each work begins with a process that includes putting a thin layer of plaster on the canvas, which gives her the sense of a blank page. She then starts expressing herself, sometimes in subtle and delicate, or, at other times, in brutal and primal ways that reflect her sincerity every time without any artifices.
Isabelle enjoys spending time outside, both in crowded cities and in nature. Those different interactions allow her to contemplate life and emphasize her emotions, giving her a broad palette to express herself.
Isabelle Maynard was born and raised in France and graduated from the Fine Art School of Montpellier France, after a few years studying psychology in Bordeaux. She was inspired by prominent artists, including Pierre Soulages, Antoni Tapies, and many others.
Living near Spain and having Spanish relatives, Isabelle was inspired by and immersed in French and Spanish cultures. The mix of various cultures is the cement of her work. But her dream was to discover the United States with its vast landscapes and urban surroundings, aspiring to be a part of its abstract expressionist masters such as Cy Twombly, De Kooning, and Joan Mitchell. Her dream was realized when she was given a wonderful opportunity to move to and live in Brooklyn, New York. Here a new chapter of her life began. Now, Isabelle divides her time between the United States in Napa, California and Europe in Toulouse, France.
Isabelle’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in the United States, France, and Spain. Her work can be found in private and public collections in Paris, Barcelona, Geneva, Montreal, and the United States, including at Airbus, where it is displayed in private jets.
Artist Statement
In my most recent work, I aim to capture the essence and sensations of my native land in the south of France and my second home in California. Through my paintings, I create dreamlike, ethereal, and contemplative scenes filled with atmosphere. Each painting functions as a gateway to a meditative realm, evoking a deep sense of place and resonating with the scents, textures, and emotions that define these two cherished landscapes.
Let the sky in.
Let us invite it into our walls.
Let’s create new perspectives.
Let’s open up and reconnect to space, to life.
The sky on our walls will become a window to infinity, hope and freedom.
A corner where everything is possible, the corner of our dreams, the uniqueness of our lives. A part of our soul.
There are few things that compare to the feeling of freedom. Art and creation are certainly a way to achieve it. The “Vanishing Point” series is a reflection of this.
While I was confined in France with no way out, this series came to me as an evidence, as an incredible way to escape. For a moment, it was like touching hope, infinity and freedom at the same time. And this is what sky offer us, if we take the time to look up sometimes…
Time. The first notion of our own existence.
Time alone is an enigma and maintains a very conflictual relationship with our soul.
How do we apprehend the time we are given?
How we relate to its power, its fragility, the fear, the hope, and the pleasure it generates?
Time is a hole. A hole in which we are thrown without having any other choice than live with it, to relieve ourselves of its implacable impermanence. How to focus on this precious present that makes us feel so alive because when it is stated, it becomes past and already makes a promise about a future.
So leaving a trace becomes an urgency, a need, to mark time for a moment.
My work has just found its essence and purpose.
The truth of the moment.
Create and share.
Leave an immutable trace in this passing time.
It is by sharing those moments that life and time become a gift.