ARTIST BIO:
BLANDINE BARDEAU
For me, it always starts with the drawings. When I was little, I used to draw naked women and very small men. For a long time I was trying to hide it because it wasn’t well regarded when you were told your art was feminine, until quite recently.
There is a lot of influence from nature, the seasons and the weather in my work. We are surrounded by machines and things that don’t have a nourishing energy. Nature doesn’t really ask us anything.
“I think I have always had a strong sense of the feminine within us but it hasn’t always been easy bringing it forward.”
Creating is like the circle of life for me, both giving a lot of myself to my art and getting nourishment from it too. I feel like I have a lot of love and I want to nurture everything around me.
Many roads have led me to this point. It is a lot of work, a lot of self-inquiry, looking at something in the eyes which is not comfortable and I often have myself to fight against. Art is always pushing me to another edge, allowing me to access a much deeper layer of myself.
Back to Artists
Education | MA Fine Art Practice (1:1), Glasgow School of Art; BA Fashion Design (1:1), Central Saint Martins; Art & Design Foundation (Distinction), Central Saint Martins
Awards | Runner-up for Curious Duke Gallery’s Secret Art Prize (London), 2014; Central Saint Martins’ Colin Barnes Drawing Prize (London), 2009; Winner of Louis Vuitton Bag Design Competition (London), 2007
Featured | ArtMaze Magazine, Issue 2, 2017; Fresh Paint Magazine, Issue 13, 2016; Marmite IV Painting Prize Catalogue, 2013
Solo Exhibitions | Fluorescent Monkeys (London), 2010
Group Exhibitions | Art in the Forest (London), 2017; Blandine Bardeau and Rod McIntosh: When Opposites attract (London), 2015; Co-curated In Conversation (London), 2015, Painting the Future (London), 2015; Precious (London), 2014; Group Show (Glasgow, London, Helsinki), 2012; Converse, You’re Here (Paris), 2010; Metropolis Ridiculous, Selfridges (London), 2010
