| I was born Corsica, a small French island in the Mediterranean and now live in Paris, a very inspiring city. I used to work in the field of electronic and rock music for about five years. I then became a member of the Op-ac collective to merge my love of music and the visual arts. After numerous exhibitions in Europe with the collective, I have decided to dedicate myself to my first love, illustration. Now I spend my days and nights illustrating both the traditional way and by computer, but more often using both. |
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Mariline Fiori
I was born Corsica, a small French island in the Mediterranean and now live in Paris, a very inspiring city. I used to work in the field of electronic and rock music for about five years. I then became a member of the Op-ac collective to merge my love of music and the visual arts. After numerous exhibitions in Europe with the collective, I have decided to dedicate myself to my first love, illustration. Now I spend my days and nights illustrating both the traditional way and by computer, but more often using both.
I’ve always been obsessed by feelings and expressions, and I try to find my way to explore them. My images are made of a very delicate, meticulous pencil work. I don’t use a lot of colors. I love strong, very simple and direct images. I think many things can be said with a simple gesture or posture. So I try not to plan anything, but to seize the creative moment when it’s there. A striking attitude or expression can be the basis of a new work. I usually find these by observing my friends, but also watching the movies or going to a photo exhibition.
Funny thing is, I’ve always been more inspired by photography than by anything else. I’m in love with the works of Guy Bourdin, Elaine Constantine, David Hamilton and many others.
I may be a frustrated photographer!
I’ve attended no art schools, but have never stopped observing people and their ways of expressing themselves. Not being trained in such a field can be very interesting: I feel free to explore techniques and sometimes I end up where I would never have expected.
After a few years working as an illustrator willing to please other people, I’ve now decided to put an emphasis on a more personal approach. So, now I divide my time between freelancing and working on personal art projects.
The work from the second edition of Grafuck was very inspiring and liberating to create: there where no limits to the expression of sexuality. I wanted to show one of the most intimate moments of a girl’s sensuality, but to take it out of the boundaries of the classical representation. This is why I mixed this sexual, almost pornographic imagery with the innocence of a diary paper. This graph paper is the kind that we use at school in France. I have hundreds of diaries where I used to write and draw on this kind of paper.
My work has been featured in magazines such as Glamour, Vibe, Vixen, The Observer, Yen magazine and also in arts publications such as Grafuck, La revista Göoo, Semi-permanent, etc.
Recently, my character-based illustration has evolved with a focus on movement, still following this obsession with self-expression. My new works, in large format, will be exposed in Paris in Spring 2007.
