Le traversée des mariés du coeur, 2015
Rachel Daireaux

“The Bride and Groom’s Journey of the Heart” by Rachel Daireaux. An evocative title, if ever there was one, a title in which the word "crossing" expands with the dimension of immensity and risk-taking of improbable encounters, of navigation by sight, with the flow, in unstable balance on the flapping blades or surfing the crests of life. Another Rachel, in literature, also sets out to meet the world, life and above all herself. In Art, it’s really yourself that you approach, isn’t it? Is it really to meet one’s own self that we are going? This is the case of Virginia Woolf's heroine in “The Crossing of Appearances”, of these women fascinated by the search for the meaning given to life and death. The fascination with water is part of the storyline. This is the case for Woolf, a modernist to perfection. This is also the case for Rachel Daireaux, aware that a crossing can resemble an encounter, at best, with infinite Graces, at worst, with murderous nymphs. The crossing does not lack examples in literature, starting with the famous Odyssey, or in painting with Chagall's Noah's Ark or with Géricault's Raft of the Medusa... Here the crossing of the bride and groom of the heart. The ample movement of the veil evokes an embarkation, the embarkation for Cythera perhaps, not that of Watteau, but that, by proxy, of Rachel Daireaux. The bride's veil, like the sail of the loving boat of the bride and groom of the heart There is also a question of a relationship there, a relationship of phonic identity. The genre differs but the two make a pair like the bride and groom of the heart. Their crossing is probably a hymn to love, a hymn to life, an invitation to stop multifaceted violence. There is a Paradise in each of us, it is tacitly said in the work, most certainly, in a discreet way. He takes the form of a Buddhist monk wearing the Naga emblem, protective guardian, mediator between heaven and earth. Moreover, half man, half snake, he is the genius attached to water, with reign over springs, rivers, lakes and underground resources. “Who are these snakes that hiss over our heads? » ask the passengers, borrowing from Racine the alliteration in "s" in Andromaque to express the trouble, apprehension and emotion in the face of possible dangers of water. But not only that, because these creatures also bring prosperity. Who says sea, says sailors who are only fishermen arrived in the Sacred Land, wearing, of course, striped sailor shirts, revolutionary symbols of freedom. They are guided by the bride and groom from the heart to the flowery, purifying veil. What emerges from this painting is a feeling of urgency, this is what the multitude of characters on the sacred mountain suggests. The boats symbolize the transition to the state of consciousness for a transfer to a better world. Ascending masters are the adjuvants in the crossing of time materialized by calm waves sometimes, tumultuous often. A passage from Hell to Paradise. On the other side of the river, at the bottom of the sacred mountain, in a boat, a bride of the heart embraces, with a purifying kiss, an elderly person (continuity? Interior revelation?). Courage, determination and purification help to climb. Mountain/face, mouth/volcano and swirls of hearts. A protective veil of escapees sailing towards a more serene future. This painting/mountain head in profile is a machine for spitting out purifying hearts to be caught in numbers, a guarantee of access to the mountain. Mountain / mirror… reflection of the gaze turned towards oneself. It is a question, I think, of universal learning of revealing and saving wisdom. In the foreground, a bride of the heart breastfeeds a lifesaver. The luck is there, the result is achieved, to see the goldfish. Go beyond yourself, see yourself and know yourself. That's basically it... I prefer to give a little nod to Marcel Duchamp when he states that "the artist likes to believe that he is completely conscious of what he does, why he does it, how he does it … … I don’t believe in that at all. I sincerely believe that the painting is made as much by the viewer as by the artist.” So, grab your brushes! Francine Ohayon.