MY WORLD
I was born in Paris in 1950. I lived in Algeria in my childhood, in Europe during my youth and I chose Quebec as my adopted country.
Since then, I have traveled much more in my paintings than around the globe.
I compose collages from Kraft paper that I transform with acrylics, dry pastels and enhanced with gold and silver shards.
From this apparently humble and common material that is paper, I would like to bring out the splendours and splendours of the East, Asia or Africa, the icy shimmers of the lands of the North, the abundance of a fanciful and exotic flora and fauna.
Far, very far - Françoise Barraud - 2012
25 x 25 cm
collage of paper on wood, acrylic, pastel, mixed media
Siirt, City of sand - Françoise Barraud - 2014
120 x 92 cm
collage of paper on canvas, acrylic, pastel, mixed media
Just like an African child, who with a piece of abandoned metal goes to tinker with the bicycle he covets,
I fill my desires and my lacks by creating places where I would like to project characters that I would like to meet, immense landscapes where I could travel.
I take care to avoid the turmoil that could stir up my fears. A shadow can sometimes obscure these places that I want to be free of tragedy: it is the reminder of a reality that I want to erase without respite to bring out only joy or serenity.
These imaginary "ends of the world" or these familiar plots of land find their place in large paintings or miniature formats, like so many protected and sacred spaces. Everyone can, sheltered from too dissonant modernity, experience moments of grace, timeless, and allow themselves childish carelessness and candor.
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