Catherine Poinson

Q: What are their 3 main works?

Plumes d'Iris , Houx ! La chaussure

France • 1957

Presentation

The still life, in painting, through the centuries and currents of painting, or artistic currents in general, has always been both an exercise in style (often also a technical exercise), and a narration, a testimony of an era. , of his time. The latter being identifiable by the style, but also thanks to the objects that the work stages and which also often carry the symbolism, or a symbolism, specific to their time.

Charles Sterling, specialist in still life, defines it as follows: “An authentic still life is born the day when a painter makes the fundamental decision to choose as a subject, and to organize a group of objects into a plastic entity. That depending on the time and the environment in which he works, he loads them with all kinds of spiritual allusions, does not change anything in his deep intention as an artist: that of imposing his poetic emotion on us in front of the beauty he has glimpsed in these objects and their assemblage”.

Organize, plastic entity, allusions, emotions, assembly... A definition whose words it contains are resolutely in harmony with the works, Catherine's work...

Each work is the result of a long and meticulous work of plastic composition, of assembly of objects of our time, or another. Coming from fashion, from our world of consumption, or, sometimes, from our culture or ethnic cultures between Asia or Africa. In all cases, the staging, the composition becomes aesthetic. The light, also methodically adjusted, sublimates both their colors and their materials.

Thus, each adjusted object, charged with its symbolism and its own entity, is then part of a whole that the photograph freezes. A balanced whole, but also in balance. Balance whose fragility adds to the beauty and sensitivity of the work.

The background, of this intense black, intensifies the “Caravaggesque” colours, giving the work a share of mystery but also endowing this whole and this balance with its own identity and soul.

Sometimes, Catherine allows herself to retouch her photos to introduce a deformation of the image, of the object, of the objects... A part of surrealism was born then, making me think of Salvador Dali's melted watches, but it remains very personal . However, Catherine then creates an allegory around the still life by offering us a different dimension, by a part of material imbalance recreating an aesthetic balance, playing with the material that is the object, in the service of emotion.

Thus, Catherine Poinson puts all her talent as a photographer at the service of highlighting this soul that she gives birth to and immortalizes. A transmutation of these objects, of their material, takes place in a beauty as intense as it is mysterious which gives all this aesthetic and emotional dimension to the exercise of still life. All in elegance.

Each of his works is offered in different formats but also finishes. You will have the choice between the so-called "subligraphy" printing offering an intensification of the work of light and colors, or a printing on 325g Fine Art Baryta Hahnemuhle paper, offering a rendering of the material approaching that of painting. , for lovers of the still life practiced by the great masters of classical painting. Question of taste, of desire...

I remain convinced that this is only the beginning and that Catherine will explore other territories around still life. To be continued !!!

All artworks of Catherine Poinson

Plumes d'Iris