Hélène Duclos

After her studies in textile creation at école Duperré in Paris, Helene Duclos went on a journey of six month in a little sailboat linking Vannes to Dakar. Once she came back to France in 1996, she settled down in Montpellier, and joined "Arboretum", a collective of artists and began to paint. Then she co-founded Cairn and Compagnie, an entertainment company in which she made up the costumes and decor. Her artistic research gave birth to installations. Her encounter with Helene Laflamme was decisive. She was welcomed at Laflamme's workshop in Crest, Drome where she learned about the techniques of oil painting on wood coating. She decided to devote herself to painting: work with colors, materials and surfaces with limitless potential, a process of mysterious and vast creation. She finished training with Xuan Chieu, a master lacquer in Vietnam in 2003. Gradually she developed a unique language which slowly expanded in the field of painting, drawing, engraving and contemporary embroidery. Through her works, one can observe the relationship between human beings, between love and heartbreak, between fawn and various creatures, metaphors of our desire and, fear. Her work is profus and complex. She uses different supports and scales: from miniature to very large formats. A head-spinner architecture, going from tragedy to comedy. A complete immersion in painted, embroidered and drawn work.