From her earliest childhood, the artist was devoted to drawing, which she discovered through Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani, in the books of the family library. Later she studied Paula Modersohn-Becker, Georgia O'Keeffe and Niki de Saint-Phalle, all of whom clearly influenced her work. The love of colour, which she never ceases to explore in our lives, quickly leads her to painting and it is at the age of 8 that she paints her very first pictures. This practice quickly became a daily occupation but above all a true calling: as soon as she could, Inès Longevial dedicated herself to studying applied arts in Toulouse, from which she graduated in 2013 with an MFA.
Read MoreSelf-portrait becomes her favorite genre but also her playground: her palette and her drawing give her the freedom to follow an imaginary and poetic dream. Her landscape-like faces unfold a candid, dreamlike universe that resonates with the outside world, which imprints its colors and moods. Inès Longevial has always been inspired by the variations of light as they convey and capture an impression, a sensation, a feeling. Imbued with a melancholic sweetness that can be combined with acidic tints, these portraits leave room, over the years, for a greater purity and a thorough work on the carnation, its shadows and its reliefs. Through these fragments of skin and details of postures, the artist seeks to reclaim her body, to assert her femininity. These silent and inhabited women also, and above all, draw up the portrait of her relationship to the world and her condition as an artist.
Text courtesy Almine Rech.
