Scraps of paper, plants, canvases, salvaged objects. Photographic artist Anaïs Boileau (b. 1992) is deeply intrigued by materials. Working from an old farmhouse in the south of France, Boileau makes abstract compositions inspired by the Mediterranean climate – warm dry summers that make way for cool, mild winters. The artist collects layers of various textures and tones, placing them on top of one another under the blazing sun. The resulting images, Boileau notes: “stand on the edge of reality and abstraction.”
Viewers find their eyes darting around the frame, trying to find meaning within maelstroms of blues, greens, reds and yellows. “The vivid shades create rhythm in the image,” Boileau says. “The shapes seem to move in a drunken rush of colour.” Every hue is oversaturated. Objects are cut, warped and bent into new configurations. Many of the surfaces appear to ebb and flow like rippling water. The idea is to represent landscapes in new and imaginative ways: evoking sensations and memories through colour and form.
“I address the different experiences and approaches we have with objects and what they tell us about our ways of thinking and living,” says Boileau, who plays intuitively with light, shadow, mirrors and reflections. One such piece fills the lens with puckered silver foil; kaleidoscopic patterns dance on its surface. The artist’s work is published widely in magazines and newspapers such as Le Monde, The Guardian, It’s Nice That, M le magazine du Monde, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times or Vanity Fair.
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Image Credits:
1. Anaïs Boileau, Silver rock, 2022
2. Anaïs Boileau, Storm, 2021
3. Anaïs Boileau, Yellow silk, 2022
4. Anaïs Boileau, Hands, 2020
5. Anaïs Boileau, Dance 01, 2022
6. Anaïs Boileau, Silver rock, 2022
7. Anaïs Boileau, Green Canvas, 2021
