Caroline’s artwork captured me from the moment I saw it. I love the combination and connection of movement/ dance and painting in her work. When you look at her paintings they are so vibrant and full of life that you can feel the movement in them which they are made of, which in return then moves and touches you deeply. Her work is raw and honest but so powerful at the same time.
For the following I asked Caroline if she wants to do an interview with me:
Luna Maluna Gri: Tell me a bit about yourself and your work
Caroline Denervaud: I’m a multidisciplinary artist working on how movement can be painted and captured. I’m born and raised in Lausanne and live in Paris.
LMG: How and why did you start creating art?
CD: I started with dance. I wanted to be a professional dancer but after an accident, I had to stop. I’m not good with stops so I focus on painting. I always needed to move, to dream, to create and search further…
LMG: What role does creating art, play for you?
CD: This is what I do every day, what I think about, dream about, project myself into, what feeds me, makes me alive but also what scares me.
LMG: I find the moment of connecting movement/performance/dancing and drawing/painting in your work particularly interesting (and touching), how come you connect these two?
CD: I’m getting inspiration through movement. It has been a journey since I understand I was allowed to dance/move in my work but this is the way I can focus on essential and on what I want to express. Yes, every beginning of a painting is a performance. There’s a start, a middle, and an end and I never come back nor repeat. That’s also a trusting work as you have no control (or few) of what is happening while dancing and what marks I’m leaving on the canvas. I film the performance and this is a very important part. Painting comes in a second part but now I’m trying to integrate the painting into the movement, this is a long journey!
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CXQXKluFlzU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZKTM-Ildm0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
(Two links to movement – painting connected works by Caroline)
LMG: And, that may be already answered in the answer to the question above, but are those two things just inherently connected for you, or are these also things that can stand each on their own (and you then choose to bring together)?
CD: Movement can stand on its own but I always bring movement first to a painting at its start. During my process, I could say they are apart but on leads to the other so, in a way, they meet at the end but mostly they are connected through the story of a painting.
LMG: What does your creating process look like?
CD: Mental and physical preparation, perform and film, paint. I think the most important is time, trust and loneliness.
LMG: What inspires you?
CD: Feelings, energy, the way a body moves and expresses itself naturally, the stories you can tell through movement. In painting, I’m inspired by fluidity, meetings, and connections between forms and colors. Abstract, repetition, obsession, search.
LMG: Is there something you want to change about the art world? If yes, what and why?
CD: Sure, artists need more accessible space (here in Paris to have a studio is so difficult and expensive). Help also, someone to trust to evolve. There’s a lot but I think the art world is also considering some important changes like the place for women and black people. This is a step and I hope that it will continue.
LMG: What do you think is/are the role/-s of artists and art in our society?
CD: Artists were always here! They visually write the history. They are here to offer their vision, feeling, hopes, analyses, ….
LMG: What artist/artists would you like to meet (dead or alive) and if you had one question what would you ask them?
CD: Pina Bausch and I would like to be part of her dancers to feel her energy and live her intense poetic approach to dance.
Marina Abramovic and to ask her the secret of her strength and courage.
LMG: Do you think there is something you can bring to this world through your work as an artist which you couldn’t in any other field of work?
CD: Not really. I hope to bring poetry, a way to escape through imagination and questions 🙂
Copyright to all artworks, photos, and videos: Caroline Denervaud
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolinedenervaud/
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