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I believe in the existence of multiple, coexisting temporal planes that intersect at points where there is only something we might casually called "absence". However, through deeper reflection, the term "eternity" seems more fitting. It is a time-outside-of-time, where everything stops and remains, silent, like a still frame or a vision.
With these images, I attempt to capture events that have happened to me, those that are happening now, and even those yet to come. When time is no longer perceived merely as a flow moving in a fixed direction-from past to future-there exist only continuous "presents," small eternities which, if listened to carefully, can reveal what has not yet unfolded in our common perception.
The paintings I create are nothing more than the representation of these "times" playing with one another, overlapping and enduring. They are an illustrated logbook of a parallel journey, where I recount the events of my life, situations and sensations, dreams, and intuitions.
I began painting this series of canvases about two and a half years ago, coinciding with the start of a personal meditative practice that immediately sharpened my intuition and my perception of the details and colors of almost all those I have grown on my terrace over the years; a small sculpture of an ear in constant listening; a glass bell jar containing an owl-shaped candle; a model of a skull; my seashells. The more significance and presence these objects hold in my mind, the more frequently they appear in my paintings-such as a small golden circle found in a special place at a special time, a symbol of rebirth, willpower, and protection.
I encounter these same forms at other significant moments, as if they are pointing out a path that, deep down, I know I have already traveled-alongside figures I had already known, who take my hand when we meet while I smile and tell them my name. It is as if in my paintings, as in my life, I have simply begun to remember my future. It is a future that occasionally sends small signals through events called "coincidences"-a wink to help me understand that yes, this is indeed the path.
The tiger is my transposition into both an inner and symbolic dimension. It is not always painted the same way, yet it maintains indelible and easily recognizable characteristics. Another constant element in my work is music. I associate each painting-consciously or unconsciously-with a piece of music.
Sometimes the music influences the painting; other times, it is the reverse. Occasionally, they are pieces 1 am studying on the piano at the time, or music I listened to during a particular moment in my life, which I have inevitably associated with the emotions I wish to convey in the painting. Painting and music are inextricably intertwined; they are channels of communication that, like temporal planes, overlap and echo for those who choose to listen. When they tune into that specific, subtle frequency, they give voice to an incalculable amount of information, stories, and messages that are all too often ignored...
- Marlène Demonte -
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