FRANCOISE NIELLY

Francoise Nielly

South France

"... all of that classical imagery of South France is very alive as an experience inside of me. Maybe it is wht led me to the use of fluorescent colors in my paintings.

Thinking of my childhood is definitly not my favorite thing. With an over protected crippled sister I often felt lonesome, not to say abandonned! Of course I also had nice times, like summer in Cavalaire where we lived on the Mediteranéan side, building huts and cabins and hunting butterflies. I have vivid images of colors, of brightness. Yellow, sunshine, blue, heat, cicadas, pin smell, light... all of that classical imagery of South France is very alive as an experience inside of me. Maybe it is what led me to the use of fluorescent colors in my paintings.

My dad was an architect ; busy man, rather harsh, demanding and critical ; I spent number of thursdays drawing on a drawing table in his office ; my education was drastic, there was no room for flaws or errors. Nonetheless, i do have a strong admiration for him. He was quite a talented architect. He taught me photography and optique. He also took me with him on numbers of his construction sites and with him I started to have a different look on architecture. 

Maybe in a way he inspired me on how to construct a painting as well as on disciplin, i can’t really say, but i also like deconstruction and crazyness.

I am very close to nature, I love the sea, it is a space of freedom that you loose when you live in town. Respect, happiness, protection... These are the words that come up when i think of nature. Unfortunately, I see the future painted in black. I am not optimistic at all. One of these days, earth will break down...

Fortunately love shines in different fields. I am a passionate woman and i am passionate about my life, about doing my life with intensity. That is the way i approach painting, traveling, reading, etc. Somehow, painting may be the love of my life; and as in every couple relationship it’s a moving territory with high and lows, fights, weariness, desire, fire and water. It can be exhausting, exhilarating, boring, fun, sparkling... whatever i go through with it, i just can’t stop loving it." FK