Helene LEMEUNIER
Woman-painter
Born May 4, 1973
1981: Entry into the Saturnino-Lauriol workshop (Antony 92)
1992 - 1993: Art school preparatory workshop (Paris 19th)
1993 - 1994: Textile design MJM (Paris 11th)
October 1996: 1st personal exhibition (Paris 11th)
July 1998: Birth of Laura
I had the chance to meet Madame Lauriol at the age of eight, I entered her studio as one enters religion, Wednesday, Saturday ... the measurements, the perspectives, the complementary colors ... the smell of turpentine, linseed oil all this I discovered thanks to her. At fifteen she let me attend the nude class (with parental permission!), at 16 we left at twelve for an internship in Venice (sleeping in the dormitories of an old palace, drawing in the street, nothing but 15 days to the rhythm of charcoal and red chalk). He was my model, I owe him for showing me the way...
After the baccalaureate (drawing being only an option it is not enough...) here I am like a lost soul in the living room "what to do without the baccalaureate?" kind of place that explains to dunces like me that it's not the end of the world. On the contrary, it was the beginning, my parents ( whom I adore and whom I discreetly thank) finally admit that drawing is not just a hobby and I enroll in a school that offers professional artistic training... I dream of the fine arts and here I am in textile design... too bad... the school is finally to my liking. Drawing and painting in class as 'at home.... I come out with a more or less recognized diploma in textile design. I should then have headed for the "path"...
Here I am on a balcony during the opening of a friend when the one who has always supported me (and still) offers me my first exhibition...like this...we are remaking the world...the idea is gaining ground. ..
It will take place in October 1996, I work for 6 months to provide ten paintings. I send 50 invitation cards, barely a third of the people come but I sell my first paintings... (so surprised that I think it's a joke)... I finally realize what I want to do "when I will be older".
With my first sale I bought myself a huge oak easel (which doesn't even fit in our studio!)...I've been painting on it for...
From 1996 to 1998 my work is exclusively in oil paint.
They are mostly women. Only three men reside in the midst of around thirty luscious and sensual Venuses. After a very academic drawing education, it took me several years before I took the plunge and produced something very personal. The very first will be "blue like an orange", a nude of a blue pregnant woman. After the surprise, the blues will follow each other but will not look alike. The inspirations are multiple like simple sketches made at school or manga whose heroines are both woman and child (a bit of myself in short).
A little rest time to have a baby and fully enjoy it. From January 98 to September 2000 there will be no creation (my head and my heart are overwhelmed by other feelings...)
September 2000 is the moment of the click and also of the first collage.
I discover the effects of materials and colors. After emptying dozens of tubes of blue paint, I regain a taste for yellow, red, green and the millions of shades offered by the graphic palettes. I discover the pleasure of doing research on topics covered, I experiment with new media. There remain her painted women who are an integral part of my work, the modesty of the young girl has sometimes given way to eroticism, audacity....
March 2003 announces a new period, after having worked with various authors (I am very attracted by the texts) I begin a project which is surely close to my heart than all the others, on Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel. A creative dialogue was born between a young author, Zivim, and me. A return to the sources of my work, linseed oil, pigments...for an even more personal series.
For the first time, in 2009 she presented her “woman-multiple” series, self-portraits made in 2005, which she resumed with her brushes in April 2009.
