Sophie Louiset

Born in 1977 in Nimes, I grew up in Avignon, a city of art and culture. It was in my forties that I decided to pursue my artistic career full-time. Driven by the need to feel alive, to express myself, I found salvation in painting!

Art and creativity have been the driving forces of my life since childhood.

Fine Arts on Wednesdays, days in my father's jewelry workshop, a visual arts option in high school, then two years at the Marseille School of Architecture as well as training as a graphic designer at the Axe Sud school... I'm looking for myself.

However, I meet people, I eat...

I will be a designer in an architectural firm for a while, a graphic designer, but also a mother.

The only thing that seemed obvious to me was that I didn't fit into the frame!

There is a form of irony that I like in the idea that I, who have always seen myself as someone who does not fit into the frame, find a certain form of freedom in the frame of my paintings.

It was my move to La Ciotat in 2011 that revealed my interest in maritime landscapes.

Everything speaks to me, everything inspires me: colors, shapes, perspectives, lights...

It's impossible to list my influences; they are limitless, without style, without date. I refuse to confine myself to anything.

I am curious above all, whether it is graphics, architecture, design, literature, cinema, a vacation, a Sunday afternoon, a pretty photo, the smile of my children or my latest pair of "pumps", everything is inspiration, everything is a source of wonder.

However, my main obsession is undoubtedly color.

Colors are a game; they make me feel good.

It was with acrylic painting that I found my happiness.

I mostly treat it in the form of flat tints.

My desire or my need is always to transcribe my sensitivity for a place, a moment, an image, a photo, a memory, to create an atmosphere...

There is something extremely exhilarating in the idea of being able to make it your own, to fantasize about it!

I think I have a relatively graphic approach or at least a desire to get to the point.

Share what I see, try to illustrate it, convey an emotion.

Either way, it's a game that ends when I look at the canvas and can finally say to myself, "It's okay."

It feels good to my eyes and my head.

So I know I can then move on to the next one...

That's just it.

Sophiel