Marie Denis — À propos — Slash Paris

The work of Marie Denis centers first and foremost on an object and how it may potentially be reinvented. Marie Denis´s work also focuses on botanical principals. Her installations and sculptures are designed from raw materials and other objects diverted from their typical anchors in culture. She likes to circumvent the rules to realize her visions, and her work is a harmony between the universal and the everyday. Marie Denis was born in 1972 in Bourg−Saint−Andeol in Ardeche, and while she may live in Paris, her work takes her everywhere. After studying at Lyon ENBA, she completed a residency at the Villa Medici in 1999. And in 2008, by the invitation of the Musée Denys Puech, Denis immersed herself in a 4 month−long residency at Rodez. Her work thrives on inspiration from the outside world and is enriched by the people she meets and the places in which they live. For Marie Denis, a piece of artwork always starts with a context and its interaction with the observer. What interests her most are the fleeting moments of meaning in a work − whether it be a tree, fruit, or architecture − and the observer´s interpretation of the proposal made to him. In this way there is a kind of constant re−invention of the work. Marie Denis hopes that the “proposals” broaden the observers´ perceptions. The materials she uses are borrowed from her daily life: plastic bags, grass from the lawn, the boxwood trees that line the Ruthénois, or the portholes of the old Sunflower Rodez pool. To her, anything goes. Childhood is also a crucial part of her work. “We all reminisce about our childhoods,” Denis has said, “the joys and sorrows that we learn then color our lives later on. So, like a child, I leave myself open to impression and influence.” With this outlook comes the added element of playful diversion. Whether it is through misuse of scale − a world map that appears on the skin of a grape (Globe, 1995) − or misappropriation of materials − a giant inflatable “balloon” made of small plastic bags (Miss Shura, 2005) − nothing is as it seems in the world of Marie Denis. The most familiar places and things can become absurd − a sloping soccer ball (Tilt, 2003) − or wondrous. And when plants are involved, they truly incorporate life into her creations. Marie Denis hopes that observers expands their perspectives and open themselves to a more vast and more rich impression of the world and of life. Following her work at the Rodez, she invites us to rediscover Denys (Puech) and the museum in a new way.