Interview with Marianne De Roo
How do you see your personal traits of disobedience and non-conformity influencing your artistic process and the themes you choose to explore in your work?
In my artistic process, non-conformity is to be found in me avoiding trends and hypes. My painting subjects are quite simple : faces, plants, portraits, botanical elements. These subjects are non-provoking, they’re not offensive. It is contrary to the current trend where painting is often conflictual, I’d say.
I also find myself accepting that the act of painting is a slow process, converse to the need to produce quickly.
Disobedience is to be found in my continuous search for aesthetic. One is often pushed away from the search for beauty. I think we are afraid to face it. I look for it. That is what I want to paint. With beauty, I mean the very subjective experience of what I find beautiful. Of course, it is personal, unique. It’s nothing but personal. But that is my claim. I disobey the trend of painting to please the current spirit.
You mentioned an attraction to settings, compositions, and color in daily life. Can you share a specific instance where such an observation directly inspired one of your pieces?
Inspiration often comes from multiple observations. I like to contemplate. I look around and analyse tones, shapes, shadows. It feeds me constantly.
When a festive table is laid for a meal, the light in the room shines on all the objects in a particular way. There is a lot of inspiration to be taken from it. Settings on market stalls are also inspiring. The same goes for buildings, how they line up in a street, with the backdrop of a sky, or the lack of bright light – which creates a mysterious setting. I often find inspiration for portrait colours in cooking books and botanical encyclopediae. And then of course, people inspire me. A skin’s texture, a neck’s line confronted with the colour of the collar, mismatched outfits, how people hold themselves – that’s all there to get inspiration from ! The list is long.
Your work often explores the concepts of absence, balance, and discrepancy. Could you elaborate on how these elements manifest in your art and why they hold such significance for you?
Absence creates a tension which creates interest. The key is to paint a portrait that startles you. You want to keep looking at that face, and you wonder who it is. Where does that person come from ? What are they thinking ? The title doesn’t give away much. The facial expression could be understood in a myriad ways. This is what I call absence. I prefer not to reveal too much, leaving room for interpretation - even though portraiture is at the core of figurative painting.
The dialogue between balance and discrepancy is what I find interesting. How do I compose a painting with some kind of balance but not all of it ? Technically I allow mistakes to happen. Sometimes they are accidental, sometimes they are deliberate. The idea behind all this is the search for imperfection within a balanced image. It is subtle - I like it to be subtle; but it’s there.
Given your emphasis on the physical process of painting and drawing, such as the visibility of brushstrokes and the use of colour, how do you balance technique and spontaneity in your work?
The technique is inherent to the act of the drawing. It is a process of learning by doing. One has to put in the hours. There is no secret to it : it’s work.
When I work, I know where I want to go, which image I want to portray, even though I don’t make preparatory studies. The reason is that I like to dive into the subject immediately, without preparation. I just go for it and paint. Generally, if a painting is not finished after approximately three painting sessions, I start anew.
You stated that art has no definite purpose, yet it inevitably expresses a message. How do you navigate this dichotomy between purposelessness and expression in your creative process?
The purposelessness is that there are no fixed rules. There is a technique, and it is beneficial to master it somehow, but it only serves my hunger to express myself. Which in turn brings about a vast freedom to take any direction I choose. This is wonderful !
The message it conveys is a very modest one. It is just one person’s perspective on a face, a fact, a landscape, a body part, an abstraction. The wonder begins when this opinion touches another person to the very core. That is when the dialogue commences. Then you’re talking !
The practice of entering your studio in twilight to evaluate your canvases is quite unique. How did this ritual start, and what have you learned about your work and yourself through this practice?
The origin of this habit is purely practical. I often find myself entering my studio with my hands full, so I have to put things down in order to turn on the light. Furthermore, I am rarely in a hurry. I like taking the time to observe and take things in. I look around to assess the previous day’s work and realise there’s a visual silence to this twilight, that allows a new vision. This practice has since become a habit. It has taught me the value of contemplation, which is of uttermost importance to me.
What is the idea behind "Seventy-three, Portraits of Women" solo exhibition at OPEK, Leuven, and what do you want people to understand from it ?
“Seventy-three, portraits of women” is a project that I conceived and executed from start to finish. It started in 2017 with a simple objective : I wanted to portray women. I wanted to find beauty in every woman’s face, because I’m convinced it’s there. And indeed, I found it.
I initiated an open call, hoping to attract as many women as possible, encouraging to bring along friends. In total, seventy-three women agreed to take part in my project. Over the course of a single week-end, I photographed them all. It took me five years to complete the portraits. I took my time, as it was crucial to identify and capture the spark that is unique to every woman. The imperfections; where the beauty lies also. And I sought it out, slowly, taking the time that was necessary. I was my own master, and that suited me fine.
The exhibition was held in 2023 and ran for a duration of three weeks. At the vernissage, all the women were invited to see their portrait for the first time. The portraits were diverse. Some were painted in chiaroscuro, others with vibrant colours. Some were small, others quite large. The reactions were varied and spontaneous. It was a remarkable experience. I had achieved my goal.
If there is one thing that I would like people to understand from this exhibition, it is the affirmation that there is, indeed, beauty in every woman’s face.
Your art seeks to highlight the beauty of empty spaces and suggest rather than explicitly state. Can you discuss a piece where this approach was particularly challenging or rewarding ?
The piece entitled “Botanical, quadriptych” is about the beauty of simplicity. It captures the understated elegance of a few branches. I realised early on that a single canvas wouldn’t be enough to express what I wanted to say. It was rewarding to see how each of the four paintings breathes, but each one differently and still, they obviously belong together.
Because this is a quadriptych, the piece takes up a lot of space. It is intentional, I ask the question : why devote so much attention to a few mere branches ? And yet, that is what I did. It is about the beauty of an empty space, the beauty of simple things. It is also about the power of suggestion.
Considering your journey from being a self-taught artist who drew during school lessons to formally studying art and establishing yourself as a full-time artist, how do you view the role of formal education in developing an artist's voice and skills?
Formal education, that being the art academy, taught me the technique behind the art. How to draw properly. How to paint properly. Those are the skills I acquired. The other aspect is the importance of work. Talent is a bonus, but it is all about putting the hours in. One has to draw lots, one has to paint lots. It’s as simple as that.
As for the artist’s voice, the art academy also taught me to relativise one’s view on art. It is very subjective, utterly personal, non quantifiable.
The other aspect that formal education brings, is acquiring a knowledge on how other artists have worked, for the previous centuries. How did they think ? What was their starting point ? How did they use the paint ? That last question is of particular importance to me : I learned to use oil paint combined with linseed oil, and without other chemical ingredient. The painting process is slower, sensual. It suits me.
You mentioned that the artist's role is to take a stance and make a statement in society. Can you share an example of how you have used your art to comment on or engage with societal issues or themes?
I want to claim the beauty of simple things, of all that is within our reach. The world we live in is far too complicated and we forego to see what is close to us : a face, a shadow, an incongruity, a horizon, a stain. We are constantly told to go abroad – with that, I mean to leave behind what is familiar, to go out of our comfort zone. I don’t adhere to that statement. What is familiar and close, what occurs often around us, what is there immuably – that’s where I want to seek the beauty. That is what makes us who we are. We are grounded and should take pride in that. There is no need to look too far away. It is all within our reach. This is what I aim to convey through my paintings.
