(Art Review :: Volume 11)
Ann Delorme’s new series is the result of a bold exploration of life that is sunk deep in the subconscious, brought to the surface and manifested on paper. To make this possible she has exercised a great deal of openness to the ‘unknown’, innovativeness in giving form to her almost intangible experiences and artistic skill in evoking a layered work that reveals submerged reality.
She eloquently explains, ‘staring at a blank sheet of beautiful paper mounted on my easel, forms are born beneath my sketch pencil as I trace lines around the sheet of paper, with my sketch pad in the other hand. As I draw interesting distortions are created of what I see around me and an illusion of the real substance of things, which to me makes them more real.
‘The 300 gsmCanson paper is the right thickness and suits my style of working with aquarelle pencils and wax. I apply different shades of aquarelle colour, and then remove the upper layers to get to a shade of colour I want. Wax is used to get transparency and to give a velvet finish to the composition. In some pictures I have used acrylic paint and a spray glaze as well.’
The written word is an integral part ofsome of her compositions, revealing stories that become signposts that guide the viewer on a journey across unknown mythic terrain. She explains, ‘in certain compositions I have written a narrative, storybook style around the figures.I like writing into my pictures, it adds interest to a relatively plain background and says what I want to say, simply and briefly.’
The spirit that permeates the work is one of loss. This is evident from the feeling of absence that reveals itself through the images and their compositions – arms and hands with no body, human forms presented through a juxtaposition of life and death – anguish expressed through a robust use of colour and texture.
Despite the dark intensity of the spirit deep beneath the work the visual impactis nevertheless aesthetically appealing. This series is an essential part of Ann Delorme’s oeuvre which reveals a submerged world made luminescent in the hands of a daring artist.
– Randhir Khare
Curator
ANN DELORME
Ann Delorme studied at the J.J School of Art in Mumbai where she learnt clay modelling and sketching of life studies. She has had a number of exhibitions of her marble sculptures, paintings, bronze sculptures, copper with enamel, copper reliefs with patina in Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune.
She was invited to exhibit copper reliefs with patina at the Hungarian Triennale in Kescemet, Hungary in 2007.
