The Model and It’s Shadow – Sculptures & Still Life Paintings by Nathalie Du Pasquier.

Nathalie Du Pasquier (b 1957) is a French artist who has lived in Milan since 1979. Until 1986, she worked as a designer and was a founding member of Memphis. She designed numerous “decorative surfaces” – textiles, carpets, plastic laminates, and some furniture and objects. In 1987, painting became her main activity.

I recently spent some time getting lost in her website, and I was particularly taken by her ‘construction’ series. Nathalie paints minimal still life scenes that focus on colour and form, but first she constructs abstract sculptures which eventually become the basis of her work. In other words, these sculptures shown here are the first step in creating her paintings. For someone who’s art is reasonably “minimal”, her process is a lot more complex and involved than one might suspect. She approaches each scene almost as a mini theatre set.

The short film accompanying these images showcases Nathalie’s process first hand, and also showcases her wonderful studio in Milan.

Related Posts:
Modern Memphis Movement.
Studios & Ateliers.

[Images courtesy of the artist.]