Suddenly nature

Suddenly nature

Several times a week, Renée-Paule Danthine walks along a path lined with ancient walls that may have, from time to time, little wisps of plants that slip into the gaps of the ill-fitting stones. In the city, nature delicately imposes its presence. The question sometimes arises: little by little, inexorably, couldn't nature take over?

In Renée-Paule Danthine's work, there is first and foremost a frame –  a structured space in which the timid emergence of nature can unfold. A few sprigs, a tenuous presence, take root, ready to assert themselves...  or else, thanks to an escape route, a half-open window or a shutter that doesn't close, they drift away, dissolving into space. Sometimes only a sketch remains, like a ghost of the evanescent plant that the artist allows us to distinguish when our gaze is led to pierce the different layers of paint. Elsewhere, the frame may soften, allowing the plants to take root through a crack in the wall; they become identifiable. The sensuality of these plants emerging from the cracks is moving.

Finally, the structured canvas can disappear, as if the artist were freeing herself from some constraint. A wall occupies the space and the grasses, stems, and flowers, reduced to their essence, take possession of the canvas. Vegetation asserts itself. Nature, the great exile of the city, makes its royal way, invading the space, untamed.

It's impossible to talk about Renée-Paule Danthine's work without mentioning her great mastery of color. Mixed techniques work wonders: oil, wax, oil pastels and, of course, the collages the artist has been practicing since her early days in New York. The hues are worked in layers, where the eye delights in scrutinizing the surface and losing itself. Smooth surfaces rub shoulders with thicker ones, saturated with matter. Cool tones dominate, an infinity of blues, warmed by a few touches of vibrant reds.

Visitors who walk alongside the artist for the duration of the exhibition can let their emotions run wild, attentive to the timid emergence of plant life, to its delicate affirmation – or can be surprised by their explosion, a most unexpected overflow.

M. Saint Siffre