On Thursday, February 4th, 2010, I had an appointment on Rue du Mont-Thabor for the very private opening of Amylee’s exhibition in the premises of the company Finance+. Right in front of the Maria Luisa concept store, a happy coincidence that should have tipped me off. Fashion was not far away. Amylee presents the latest models of her 2009-2010 fall winter collection plus a unique and sublime piece from the Bollywood series, before presenting her new collection in a new location on February 25, 2010.
Amylee’s universe is pop and colorful, Andy Warhol would certainly not have disowned her! Fashion and the designers who inspire him are very present in his paintings but transcended by a more arty pop soul.
Amylee is a young contemporary artist who is both an art designer and a colorist painter who started out in the Nelly Rodi style office. It is there that her taste for fashion and her knowledge of trends were affirmed and sharpened. Afterwards, immersed in scenography and decoration, she learned the rudiments of the trade in order to better appreciate the tapestry motifs, the associations of materials and to acquire a certain taste for staging.
Amylee’s paintings reproduce in relief fashion photographs in a rather seventies universe. But his style is resolutely contemporary and lively, even though it is inspired by a bygone era. And his work exudes cheerfulness and joie de vivre, just like the artist. One may think she is shy but as soon as she talks about her work, what her paintings say about her becomes obvious, she loves life and sharing her emotions.
Amylee paints vertically, creates her drops and manages the entire composition of her canvases. His work technique is based on the art direction of fashion photography where several trades are involved. She begins by choosing the photo from which she will draw inspiration, paying attention to the composition of the image itself. She will reproduce with acrylic paint the central character, she will remove elements, add here and there some accessories, create shadows. Then she affixes her identity by creating reliefs of materials and her canvas comes to life: the colors are bright and each detail is highlighted, like these drops of paint that form points. We can recognize on a canvas Kate Moss or the star model of the 70s Twiggy in a beautiful pentaptych that highlights the fine trains of the model and illuminates it with sunny colors.
Amylee also functions as a trend office. Every six months, she keeps abreast of upcoming trends and manages her colors and materials. And she will create new collections that she reinvents each season based on the trends.
Inspired by designers such as Galliano for his baroque side, Christian Lacroix for his attraction to colors, or Courrèges for his dress forms, Amylee scans fabrics, wallpapers and leathers before incorporating them by collage for small pieces around the central character in her paintings. And for her end of collection, she recreates her best models in smaller copies that she presents on small displays that she makes herself.
Before, we only talked about fashion photography, thanks to Amylee, we now also have to talk about fashion paintings!
Amylee exhibits in the premises of
FINANCE PLUS
21 rue du Mont Thabor – 2nd floor, 75001 PARIS (métro Concorde)
Marie-Odile Radom
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