Elsa Duault

Born in 1992 in Normandy, Elsa Duault, self-taught, embarked on painting in parallel with a Masters in Marketing in Paris. The discovery of more than 700 works of her grandfather whom she never knew, will make her find her way. A series of exhibitions followed in various places in Rouen, Le Havre, Honfleur, Paris, Reims… In February 2017, Duault went to South Africa to study Fine Arts at the prestigious Michaelis School of Fine Art at the university Cape Town (UCT). There, his meeting with the gallery owner and collector Candice Berman based in Johannesburg marked the start of his professional career. In July 2018 a solo show presented an impressive amount of paintings and two sculptures in collaboration with Zimbabwean artist Akudzwe Elsie Chiwa, the first woman of color to receive the University of Cape Town’s ultimate award, the “Michaelis Price”. She will also exhibit in South Korea, Bulgaria. His paintings are on display with clients in New York, South Korea, Norway and entered the collection of the RMB Bank in South Africa (Acquisition during the Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg). ARTISTIC INTENTIONS Influenced at a young age by theorists of modern art and abstraction such as Klee or Kandinsky, Elsa continues the work of these great painters of color, form and space.

The abstract-real harmony (that of matter) is preponderant in his work, offering a decidedly new vision of our time, its imprints and its advances. The reality of the paint material and the invisible forces and fluids present all around us at various scales, fascinate the artist. Pollock, Benglis or the ancestral art of Marbled Paper (Unesco’s intangible heritage) are just a few major examples of inspiration. To go further in his exploration of time, space and new technologies, 21 South African paintings are associated with Augmented Reality technology and offer the public a space time journey. Several artistic collaborations were made in Cape Town. Dancers, performers and musicians join forces with the artist to create new works around improvisation and movement, mutual influences. Each of these canvases is the very imprint of the moment T, of the creative energies and identities present in the studio … Like the theorists of abstraction, Elsa Duault seeks a constant reinvention of painting as a medium and a means of transcription of flows, nature, the mark of time and Man on his environment. Attached to movements in the spatial arts such as painting, sculpture and performance, the artist appropriates these practices. By tackling subjects such as the environment, new technologies, society and science, the artist discusses our relationship to reality, time and nature, navigating between scales from the infinitely small to the infinitely large. . With a solo work and collaborations, Elsa Duault navigates between artistic disciplines such as painting, engraving, video, new media, music, dance … Constantly watching over the history of Art and Current international artists, Elsa Duault identifies with artists such as Ian Davenport, Katrin Fridricks (painting), Genieve Figgis (painting), Thomas Blanchard (video), Yan Hourri (painting), Emre Namyeter (multi-media), Faig Ahmed, Maxim Zhestkov, Mikael Takacs, Ron Fricke, Callen Schaub to name a few.