(born in 1977)
After a year of visual arts at university and at that time not seeing
yet the possible opportunities of this course, Emeline Bettex then
headed towards studies devoted to the books professions. A meeting
point between these two universes is certainly the creation of artist
books, and the mixing of text and drawing in her artworks.
Then after a few years in professional life in the book field, she
wanted to be back to studies and to travel in order to understand
humans and different ways of living. This is how she ended studying
ethnology, anthropology and sociology. Studies which took her to
Mongolia. Emeline had also in her mind the idea of getting into
Mongolian calligraphy and traditional painting inspired by Buddhism
“Mongol Zurag”.
She ultimately stayed 12 years in Mongolia, which allowed her to
establish a travel agency and to run an art gallery in Ulaanbaatar.
Emeline also started a family and had two Franco-Mongolian children.
Her youngest child has Down syndrome, which is why they have been
living in France since 2015.
She returned to studies again to take interest in the human psyche and
psychoanalysis. She is today an artist and psychotherapist. She
exhibits regularly in France.
Like a “map of the imagination”, we can detect in her drawings a
landscape seen from above where the detail of a leaf is magnified 1000
times, the line of a grass or the repetitive graphics of a tree trunk...
She is inspired by nature and those who, like her, love to contemplate and meditate on it.
Nature is for Emeline both a source of inspiration and inner calm, two key elements to allow her to create.
Drawing, sometimes accompanied by her writings or Zen poems and haikus,
nourishes her reflection about time and space. An animist and shamanist
spirituality animates her and guides her pen in drawings and texts
evoking intuition, spirits, the visible/invisible, our perceptions,
destiny and Zen philosophy.
Black, the white of the paper and the shades of gray remain essential
bases for her. She can add a touch of red to recall the style of
calligraphy that is dear to her.
The universe of her work is intended to be simple, refined and
heterogeneous. There are drawings, sculptures, installations,
engravings and artist books.
Her drawings with repetitive graphics, almost hypnotic at times, often
represent nature or imaginary landscapes. We can find geometric
patterns or “wild grasses” on certain representations. A stamp or a few
lines of red color punctuate the black and white landscape.
Meditation and breathing are a large part of her technique. They allow
her to get as close as possible to the drawn line or the pattern
reproduced on the paper. Instead of a calligraphy brush, she uses ink
pens and a red pad.
Her creative approach is close to a “Graphic zen meditation”.
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www.psychotherapie-voiron.com