Argentinian artist Nadia Martina Michelin (Buenos Aires, 1981), who lives and works in Italy, makes an original kind of painting, halfway between expressionist and naïve, spoken at the border between fantasy and reality.
Intuitive painting. That's what she calls it. They're like colourful panels from a graphic story, quite narrative but not easy to consume. They have a touch of mystery, of daydream, that invites us to wonder what is happening beyond what we can see. As happens with Magical Realism, which is what she associates her artwork with.
Children's games, urban scenes or scenes by the seashore… figures always in movement, with a story to tell. Sometimes a mythological one, an adaptation of the fables of Apollo and Daphne, of Cupid and Psyche or of the Rape of Europa to the everyday life of any one of us.
Michelin's technique is mixed, she uses acrylic, tempera on canvas, newspaper that sometimes peeks out from under the pigment, glued onto cardboard, or board. The texture is that of collage, rough like the furrows life leaves on a face.
El músico, El ciclista, La línea del destino are artworks that recall the urban views of the German expressionist Grosz, though stripped of his drama.
Michelin's artwork is about the magic in everyday things and about feelings such as love (Los enamorados, Padre e hijo). It gives off optimism, even if it can be a little melancholy at times. Her series of “interior portraits” stands out: effigies with big eyes through which the sitter's soul slips away.
The artist, who studied architecture, has exhibited in spaces in Argentina, France and Germany and has received several drawing prizes.
What do you make of her artwork? What does it inspire in you? We want to hear your opinion!
All of Nadia Martina Michelin's artworks here
Comments (2)
damian tesoriero
March 11, 2014Nadia
April 15, 2014Log in to leave your comment. Log in