A Feeling of Personal Fragmentation

By Chantal Robillard

“Being a member of the DF Art Project collective allows me to deepen my artistic work and communicate with other artists whose outlook is similar to mine. I have been asking myself questions concerning the representation of the figure and the face for a long time. This questioning was triggered by a self-portrait created when I was just thirteen, borne from the feeling of fragmentation, a destructuring of the personal. I sought to understand this phenomenon and give an account of it through my artistic experience.

I like to sketch faces in-the-moment – faces seen on the train, in the metro or on the beach, as well as self-portraits. I have progressively discovered that the ideal structure of the body and face, as defined by the Old Masters, is beginning to crack, to fall apart, fragmenting in an unpredictable yet fecund manner. There are obvious comparisons to be drawn here with Munch’s Scream or Bacon’s distorted figures.

The figure or representation of the body and face was originally defined by the Masters of Greek sculpture and Renaissance Painters such as Leonard de Vinci, according to beauty standards no longer in vogue – it is therefore fascinating to work on a more contemporary vision.”

Chantal Robillard, Visages au jaune vif, Ink, acrylic on mounted paper, 2017, 10 cm x 110 cm.

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