Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus

QUESTION 2.    You work exclusively in graphite and black and white. What does removing color make possible for you—emotionally or perceptually—that color would interfere with?

• ANSWER 2.     The society we live in tends to capture our attention with sensory overload, bright colours, nudging us towards marketed reactions.

  I feel that working in black and white brings a visual sobriety of sorts, thus allowing viewers to interpret more freely what they see. Certain textures will appear as wood to some, as water or rock to others, while a given colour would probably stir their imagination in a more limited direction.

  To me, art aims to disrupt the rational train of thought we are accustomed to. In this controlled environment I consider that my goal is met when, even for a second, the mind of the viewer stops its constant chatter and opens to the present moment: silent, limitless, blissful.

Mélusine Brosse
Visual Artist / Drawing

MEDIUM:    graphite on paper

BIO:    French artist living in the Pyrénées. Fueled by a deep love for wilderness and a very fiercely independent spirit, she has an unconventional and varied life path that led her to make many experiences throughout the years.

WEBSITE:    MelusineBrosse

QUESTION 3.    Your practice positions itself against fast, reaction-driven imagery. What kind of attention or state of mind do you hope the act of looking at your work restores or protects?

• ANSWER 3.     In my opinion, using AI tools to produce creative work in the blink of an eye is absurd and deeply damaging. Human beings are born creators. Manifesting our inner vision is one of the biggest joys of our existence. Generative AI robs us of that pleasure by instantly producing images or creative writing that seem to comply with conventional aesthetics, thus degrading the effort and hard work that would normally be required to obtain the same result.

  I deliberately choose to produce art the hard way, sometimes putting hundreds of hours into a single image. The amount of time needed is usually obvious to the onlooker confronted to my work in real life, and the viewing of my artwork also demands an active participation on their part.

  I hope to advocate for the joy which can be found in a time-consuming process and somehow restore the creative act to its rightful place of honour.

  Time is the only thing we truly possess, choosing how to spend it might be the only way our freedom can be expressed... Time spent in creative action or creative interpretation is the opposite of a waste of time, it's actually a way for us to reclaim slices of an existence otherwise filled with menial problems.

  I hope that my works triggers this feeling in at least a fraction of my viewers.

QUESTION 1.    You describe your drawings as emerging without preliminary planning. What allows you to trust that forms will surface through the act of drawing itself rather than through intention or sketching?

• ANSWER 1.    A few years back I underwent a deep emotional crisis. I felt improductive, worthless, paralyzed with the fear that my art would never be good enough. At some point I decided to let go, and stop putting so much pressure on myself. I lined my coffee table with a sheet of paper, and decided to draw without expectations, trying to completely free my hand from my controlling mind.

  The resulting work became the Nymphos series, and it turned out surprisingly appealing. I realised that the trance-like state I put myself into liberated my hand, and brought my art outside of my imagination's boundaries.

  Surrendering to the unexpected, welcoming any trace left by my drawing tool as something I can build on rather than a mistake to correct has opened my artistic vision. My hand has knowledge that I feel can only be truly expressed if I free it from the weight of expectations.

  The very nature of life itself is constant change, things forever rearranging themselves in a new and unexpected way. I feel that by embracing this spontaneity I reach deeper into the essence of creativity.

Mother, 2021, graphite on paper, 40*30cm

Magma, 2023, graphite on paper, 40*30cm

Nymphosis 2, 2021, graphite on paper 150*63 cm

All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by Mélusine Brosse.
Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.

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