ART | 19
When she was 22, Stephanie developed a lifelong health condition and had a near-death experience. “It left me intensely spiritual. I realised I had the power to create my own life,” says the self-taught artist. She headed to Paris, took a loan and set up three centres of a holistic wellbeing chain within two years. “I wanted to help women find confidence,” she explains. By the age of 26, she’d started her own company. And then she met François Arpels. The Paris-based businessman proposed to her within 10 days of their meeting, and they were married in three months. “We just knew,” Stephanie says, simply. She sold her business and, in
2012, they had a son. Encouraged by Francois, Stephanie moved on from her Pierre Soulages-type black canvases and began to paint abstract nudes – the female form structured in geometrical shapes and blocks of colour. A few years later, the family relocated to Delhi. “India significantly influenced my art. The energy of Indian women leaves me awestruck. They look so beautiful and feminine, smiling even in the direst conditions,” says Stephanie. Gold paint and bright collages dominate her new work, in addition to the black of her youth. “Everyone faces some complication in their lives. I have been lucky,” Stephanie ends on a sincere note.
From top left: Stephanie’s latest painting; with husband François and son Andrea; at the Women’s Day Awards MAY 2018