“Les Silencieuses” ANNE-CHRISTINE RODA
Anne-Christine Roda defines a highly original interpretation of the portrait: in her work, the painting is entirely subjugated to the portrayal of man’s fragility. Her paintings, in terms of the choice of pose for her models and the neutral treatment of their backgrounds are as rooted in tradition, as her subjects are sourced unequivocally from our contemporary era. Her choice of subject speaks directly to our everyday lives. Her ‘sitters’ – very diverse in age and social status are striking in their individuality. Yet going beyond the individual, their very diversity represents disparate fragments of a mosaic combining to reveal an image of humanity pulsating with life.
Through this shared humanity, each portrait has the power to evoke in an instant for the viewer, the most personal of memories. Thanks to her training as a picture restorer, Anne-Christine, with each meticulously applied layer of paint, gradually reveals her sitter’s face in all its naked intimacy. The features emerge with precision and realism. The gentle hollow of a fine wrinkle, the texture of a strand of hair or even the moisture of a glistening eye: it’s in this quest for exactitude and fidelity to her subject that the individual is revealed in all its sensitivity. The choice of a neutral expression is deliberate, in so doing, leaving the portrait open to the personal interpretation of each person who stands before it. The technique of precision exercised in the treatment of each face extends also to the sitter’s body and clothes. These latter anchor the composition firmly in our era through the creases of a crumpled tee shirt, the delicate embroidery on a bodice or a simple tattoo. The artist’s visual interpretation of her subject, the viewer’s gaze on the work of art, that questions the representation of reality- when the painting becomes both a reflection and a fragment of humanity.
“I’ve thought a lot about my paintings as a whole, with the guiding principle of never choosing moments that are too fixed or too perfectly staged, which in my opinion lose a little of their authenticity.”
don’t want technical perfection to take precedence over the emotion in front of the painting, and for that you don’t have to paint ‘everything,’ just what’s useful to the story you’re telling. I hope that viewers will be touched and moved by the sincerity of models and the moment, not by the technique.”
35” x 57.5”
Madone En Blanc
35.5” x 23.5”
x 23.5”
Le Kimono Blanc
