Woven Portraits

Simply City
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Navdeep Sandhu

Paints and threads merge in Marion Colomer’s portraits.

Looking at her work one wonders whether Marion colomer is an artist or a fashion designer.  But probably she is a mix of both, for only then would her palette hold threads, sequings, glass et al.  Nine portraits on a 6×6 canvas form her collection ‘Portraits 2007: From Maharajas to Gliteratis’ organized by The French Embassy in India and Alliance Francaise de Chandigarh in collaboration with Chandigarh Lalit Kala Adademi.  From painting royalty she has now turned to the present elite class, becoming the “official painter” of power.

In an attempt to create mystery about the subjects, the Marion hides portraits behind embroidery and intricate patterns in colour.  Fusing the elements of French haute couture and Indian motifs Marion bridges the gap between the two cultures.  The embroideries for her paintings is created by Indian craftsmen. The 25-year-old says that she wants to go on working with these craftsmen since the art of embroidery has survived here unlike France.  So not only does texture come alive on the canvas, but also the personalities of her subjects.   Marion uses birds, animals and flowers in the portraits to give the onlookers an insight into these lives.  In a subtle portrait Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi finds himself in the company of colourful birds.  His white sherwani is embroidered in beautiful patterns.  Princess Shekkar Jah’s lively personality comes alive in darkand vibrant colours, peacocks in the background.  Princess Esra Jah sits clam and composed among sequins, beads and threads.  Butterflies dorn Julius Macman’s frame.  Intricate patterns form the highlights of the portraits of Meera Muzzafar Ali, Alyque Padamsee and Gaurav Gupta whose dreamy eyes are well-captured.  The most ‘glamourous’ of all is the one with Kiron Kher in her famous smile, Marion doesn’t miss her long tresses either.  Beads, glass, sequins form rich patterns all over the peach coloured canvas.  With Jesus and rose patches Baba Anand is the most colourful of the lot and Marion unusually tells us a lot about the painter.  She puts him on a cross like Christ with threads forming an aura around his head and the thorn crown. Go see it if you are looking for something different.

French Connection

Chandigarh Tribune
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

When one hears of foreign artists doing work on India, one would naturally expect to see poverty-stricken, wrinkled faces in the frames.  But Marion Colomer is different.  This 25-year-old French artist who is now almost an integral part of Indian art scene likes to capture India in different hues, through the faces of common men as well as celebrities and she makes them come across as mysterious yet happy people.
So, in her 11 portraits on display at the Alliance Art Gallery-36 one gets to see familiar faces like Nawab pataudi, Aleek Padamsee and the likes and also prince and princesses of the royal families across the country. Well, after all, she is known as an ‘official painter’, with an emphasis on the settings and symbols of power’.
Marion, who studied painting, lithography and photography in ENSBA-Paris (France’s top art school), made her presence felt here with her exhibition, India of the Thousand Faces at India Habitat Centre-New Delhi way back in 2004.  For that exhibition she painted the faces of men living in Malviya Nagar, her neighbourhood.

The artist, who now spends nine months in India and the rest of the time in Paris blends French culture with Indian sensitivity.  And she does that by integrating real embroidery in her paintings.  Reminds one of Raja Ravi Verma who use to dress his goddesses in Kanchivaram saris and real jewellery.  Marion’s embroidery constitutes a bridge between Indian and French culture as she picks up motifs from French haute couture and typical motifs inlayed in Pahari miniatures.  Floral patterns, either in the foreground  or the background, make for another element present almost in all her frames.  To quote the artist, “I want to create living portraits, full of contrasts, representing India in the 21st century.”

Colour Me Colomer

Hindustan Times
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Pooja Vashisht Alexander

Young French Artist Marion Colomer Symbol And Personality In Her Partraits.

Marion Colomer’s “Portraits 2007: From Maharajas to Glitteratis” mount the Alliance Francaise Art Gallery-36 not like the paintings they are but like a natural creeper; an offshoot of Indian tapestry in a foreign artist’s imagination- rich in craftsmanship and richer in execution.

The walls seem to be incubating the 25-year- old artist’s conception on the 6X6 feet cancases.  The portraits- of high society Indians, like Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Patuadi, Princesses shekkar jah, princess Esra Jah, painter Julius Macwan, Meera Muzzafar Ali, Alyque Padamsee, fashion designer Gaurav Gupta, actor Kirron Kher and painter Baba Anand- are there and yet not there.  The veiled portraits pose a mystery woven by Indian motifs, embroideries that have become tradition over the centures, and mind games stitched in symbols of animals, birds, insects and God.

So, if parakeets perch on the canvas adorned by stiff pataudi, or a moth-may be already matured into a butterfly-looms next to Julius Macwan, the viewer is questioned from canvas to canvas.  Each personality is hidden and at the same time given away rather enhances by the environment of the painting handles intelligently by the medium. Baba Anand wears rosary and cross around his neck in the portrait but as the viewers narrows eyes a little more, an embroidered halo in dull-gold thread emerges and so do Christ’s images all over the canvas in appliqué work.  Motifs in a peek-a-boo with symbols and structure make the exhibition insightful.

And the French artist uses embroideries by Indian craftsmen as she integrates elements in her paintings because: “they represent all that is disappearing in France, but still exists here, in India.”
      The unpolished four flat timbers crisscrossing each other not only hold together a French frame of mind brushstroke-ing Indian sensibility but also a young perspective unique to portraits in oil paints.
      The exhibition, in collaboration with Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, is on till October 3 at Alliance Francaise-36.  Marion Colomer will also hold lecture-cum-slide show at auditorium, Government Museum and Art Gallelry-10 on Monday at 5.30 pm.

Snapshots Of India, Now And Then

The Times Of India
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Bhavneet Bhatti

The Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan, the charming actress Kirron Kher, advertising guru Alyque Padamsee, besides a princess of Hyderabad… ali have been brought together at a painting exhibition ‘From Maharajas to Glitterati,’ by French artist’ Marion Colomer at Alliance Francalse.  From the royals of ancient India to contemporary celebraities, the collection of nine portraits perspective of India.

Through her paintings, Marion strives for a fusion of French and Indian art, while integrating elements of embroidery in her paintings.  Besides floral patterns being a dominant feature in all the portraits, the artist has also used sequins, satin, patchwork and beads in her works, which give a veiled effect to the character depicted in the portraits, while the colours used are subtle pastels, the embroidery is rendered in both pastel and vibrant shades. 

The portrait of Alyque Padamsee painted in black and white is decorated with bright flowers in patch work and silver sequins, while another portrait painted in shades of black and brown is accentuated by vibrant floral patterns. The artist has used embroideries created by Indian crafts. While appreciating their close cooperation in her work.  Marion explains, “Ireally want to work with artist crafts men, because they represent all that is disappearing in France, but still exists in India.”

The artist has earlier exhibited a series of portraits titled ‘India of thousand faces,’ which featured portraits of men living in Malvia Nagar, Delhi. Through the new collection, She showcases her changed perspective of the country. “Even though courtly subjects project a certain image of India.  I have no wish to stay in the realm of the exotic.  I want to create living portraits, full of contrasts, representing India in the 21stss century,” says Marion.

People’s Art Land

HT City
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
By Sarika Sharma

Young French painter Marion Colomer’s art is about the land and the people who make it.

What is it behind the portraits that she paints, we ask French painter Marion Colomer-in City with exhibition portraits 2007: From Maharajas to Glitteratis at Alliance Francaise Art Gallery-36. On the face of it, its people on her paintings and elements associated with them, but the leitmotif lies in what makes these people, her perspective of them as she deciphers India through them.

That’s what intrigues her… the country, its people, its traditions. “It helps me find a new identity.”
“My view of India, before knowing it, was a romantic one,” she says. She first saw India in 2003- when here for a workshop. After three years of experiencing the country, she says, “It has turned out to be much more, with its complexities”. She tries to make sense of these complexities through her paintings. Like filmmaker Muzaffar Ali and his Sufism…. “He makes me grow with him,” she says. The portrait of her friend fashion designer Gaurav Gupta is her take on the modern, dandy man.

But, no, these are not the images that make India for her. India is about “common people, those on the street”. Incidentally, the class formed the subject of her first portrait in India, where she picked people from a street (her neighbours in Malviya Nagar, Delhi) and make their portraits. “When it was exhibited, they came to see. Most of them had never seen an exhibition in life,” she says.

On Monday, Marion held a lecture-cum-slide show at Government Museum and Art Gallery-10 in collaboration with Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi on her works, inspiration and the French tradition of art, which she says has similarities with the Indian tradition like embroidery.

Building Bridges With Brushes

Chandigarh Tribune
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
By Parbina Rashid

Given a choice, Marion Colomer would rather paint than travel long distances to address huge gatherings or meet the Press. But then, when duty calls, she would not hesitate even for a moment to shake off that shy mantle of hers, and get into action.  For this 25-years-old French artist’s purpose in life is not just tobe a good artist but also build a cultural bridge between India and her own country, which she has been doing for the past three years.

This period has brought about quite a change in Marion’s life, both on the personal front and professional.  “India happened just on an impuilse,” says Marion, a little tired after her five hours’ drive from Delhi and then getting things organized for a lecture-cum-slide show at the Government Museum and Art Gallery auditorium on her work and her perception of Indian and French art. We catch her at Alliance Francaise de Chandigarh-36.

Marion’s knowledge of India was based on the usual beggars and snake charmers’ stories that do the rounds in the West.  Her first visit to India was with her teacher from her art school in Paris when a group of six landed up in Chennai to attend a work-shop on banner making.  So, when she came in 2004, her destination was Mumbai where she dabbled in making banners for films.  She did not last long.  She went back, only to come back in 2006 to New Delhi this time and here she is, spending nine months in her native place.  “I’m not ready to go back yet,” she laughs.  “Well, being a foreigner one feels a little unsasfe in Delhi in comparison to Mumbai, but there is so much to do here,” she confides.  Her’so much’ involves exploring the Indian sensibilities and blending it with that of French.  “This is how I want to build a cultural bridge,” she avers.  The huge frames, which are on display at the Alliance Francaise Art Gallery, says it all-in her portraits the concept of colour comes from the West while the motifs and embroidery (yes, she embellishes her figures with real embroidery and patch work) is all Indian.

“I started painting street people from my own locality, Malviya Nagar, and then I graduated to the royalties and well-known personalities, but now I am mostly choosing my subjects from the middle strata,” she says.  That’s because first, interacting with all kinds of people is opening up a self-learning process and second, the West may have a very romantic viewpoint when it comes to India, with all its maharajas, palaces and all, but life has its own complexities here, and as an artist, that is exactly what she will be trying to convey to the world. 

Portrait Of An Artist

The Indian Express
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
By Navdeep Sandhu

Marion Colomer explores personalities through paints and sequins.

The pull was the palaces, sufi music and ancient royalty.  Three years down the line Marion Colomer finds the complexity of Indian culture ‘unleavable’.  “Though I have travelled only three cities in India the experience is quite interesting.  The hospitality is very heart-warming,” says the French artist sporting a Punjabi jutti with her blue dress.  For Colomer, the first visit happened as a student for a workshop back in 2003.  The India of 21st century influenced her so much that she painted a long series of men living in Malviya Nagar for ‘India of the thousand faces’.  Colomer studied painting, lithography and photography in Paris in ENSBA.  Other than art, she is flexing her vocal chords and learning the harp.  In the exhibition on at Alliance Francaise, she portrays people of high society like Alyque Padamsee, Nawab Pataudi, Kirron Kher.  What’s unique about the works in the integration of embroidery in the paintings.  “The combination of a tradition with modernity results in an amazing product.  Through embroidery I have tried to guess what kind of a person he or she is.  The beads, sequins and motifs are all symbolic of the subject’s personality but still it’s mere guess which I hope is right!” She knows of only one other artist who does similar work.

So how does she find working in India?” I don’t have any problems communicating but as a foreigner I have to be very patient.  I’m quite shy otherwise but for painting that vanishes.  My work is different in terms of logistics since I have to convince people to sit for me for a long time”, says Colomer adding that a single painting takes about two to three months to finish.  The 25-years-old has been trying to build a bridge between that her understanding of art through her work has reached a ”new complexity”.  Portraits are what she likes to do best since landscapes, for instance, may be “relaxing but don’t tell a story.  I’m more intrigued by people, it’s a way to learn about the culture.”
       Commenting on censorship on art, colomer tells that France offers a lot more freedom.  She also delivered a lecture at the Arts Museum Auditorium where she talked about her influences. Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademy has also released her mugs and tee shirts.

“It’s nice to se such initiatives being taken to promote art.  India has quite a handful of talented artists like Subodh Gupta,” she signs off.
The exhibition is on till October 3 at Alliance Francaise.