French-born Australian artist Christine Maudy embodies the adage of "think local, act global" in ways that have guided her art, her lifestyle and life philosophies that are reflected in her rich abstract paintings.
Resonance: On the World Epidemic – Alison Holland
French-born Australian artist Christine Maudy embodies the adage of "think local, act global" in ways that have guided her art, her lifestyle and life philosophies that are reflected in her rich abstract paintings.
Born in Paris, Christine’s artistic career began as a fashion designer before moving to Australia with her husband ten years ago to concentrate solely on painting. After traveling the world, the family chose to live in Queensland where nature is overwhelming and colours so strong and amazing that they look unreal.
Responding to the artist’s concern over the state of human rights in the world at the beginning of the 21st century, Maudy’s 2004/2005 exhibitions in Hong Kong, Madrid and Brisbane titled "Cries and Whispers" reflected her indomitable faith in the ability of the human spirit to overcome this state of affairs. The works were dense, evocative, multi-layered abstractions that expressed a frustration of a worldwide epidemic in a lack of freedom of expression.
Maudy says, "The exhibition was for the people who are silenced. Whether it is the women in Pakistan or the suppression of religious beliefs or migrants being unfairly held for many years in Australian detention centers."
At a recent solo exhibition in Queensland, Australia, the Caloundra Regional Gallery embraced Maudy’s global knowingness by collaborating with her on concerns for local and international ecological issues and to "celebrate the poetry, the beauty and the vulnerability of our environment."
The show, "Earth Song" was a unique cross-arts event that combined dance, music, light, and multi-media art responding to Maudy’s paintings through performance around the works. It was Maudy’s second exhibition supporting Greenpeace. Through her first Greenpeace show in 2002 at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Adelaide Maudy felt the ability to deliver a personal message and be "part of the game not just passive."
Having studied psychology for two years at Paris University, Christine believes that it is the artist’s duty to contribute to raising awareness. Her paintings rely on color and texture as a means of expressing her feelings and to make things visible. She does not try to depict reality, rather show feelings and emotions through visual associations and colors. Her abstract works are passionate and charged with emotions, and capture both the eyes and imagination.
The family’s move in 1995 was Maudy’s liberation to paint. "My paintings are part of my personal history and evolution. It was a choice to leave Paris and go to Australia as I wanted to paint full-time and a studio within my house were part of my dream," she says.
A journey to Africa in 1989 was the emotional shock that changed her life. This experience had a profound influence on Maudy’s work, and for the first time she had the feeling of being connected to the land.
Trained as a private pilot, Maudy has developed a sky vision that is reflected in her interpretation of landscape. She works in her studio surrounded by nature almost every day. Paintings such as Sundance express Maudy’s love of her adopted home, the organic link to her concerns of the environment and the pleasure to live in a place where you have over 250 days of sunshine a year.
"When I first arrived in Australia my work was full of relentless energy wanting to express itself, like the energy you feel when you are liberating yourself. After a time my paintings became more introspective and I introduced geometric shapes and organic materials such as sand and paper. It was because I felt more settled and now after 10 years of living here, I try to employ both feelings of freedom and energy with a lot of color moving around, and at the same time ground the work with the geometric shapes’—it’s like using the right and the left brain at the same time."
Maudy’s powerful images gained her a broad following. She exhibits regularly in Spain, France, Hong Kong, Italy and Australia, and is represented in private and corporate collections worldwide. She will show next year in Montreal, Hamburg and in New York as part of a group exhibition organized by a French Canadian Association in March 2006.
Feeling her strength, Maudy is thinking both external and internal for her new series "Resonance." "It is my way to reflect on how people react to external events. Political events such as Australia’s new citizenship laws and how the new terrorist laws are impacting the world."
