Page 55 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL11

Knowing how to create art in different forms, with different media and techniques, gives me freedom. And when there is freedom, opportunities are endlessA MATTER OF PERSPECTIVEMarie Chantal Biela’s new art exhibition experiments with form and medium, techniques and ideasBorn in France and having lived around the world, visual artist Marie Chantal Biela recently relocated to the Residence of the Ambassador of Belgium in Bangkok’s Sathon neighbourhood. For “Different Perspectives” at Silpakorn University, her third solo exhibition in Thailand, the experimentalist explores new aspects of her work and worldview.Ms Biela’s passion for art began at a young age, when she would draw often and pay close attention to the teacher in art classes. Beauty in nature has always been one of her favourite subjects. “My grandfather always took me out into nature, where I saw beautiful birds, butterflies, interesting leaves, etc, then I would come home and draw,” she reminisces.Having studied art in Paris, Brussels, Dublin and Moscow, she continues to learn anywhere she can. “I studied painting, graphic design and many things in Belgium. I did sculpture in Moscow. I always learn something.”Nevertheless, art was not her main field of study. Ms Biela has degrees in law and management – usually thought far removed from art. For her, however, the fields are equally familiar. “You have to be flexible so you can be anything you want at any period in your life,” she says. “At the end of the day, the three fields come down to the same principle. I have to learn the theory, apply it in the work and find solutions for the challenges. People think there is no logic in art – not true. Colours, contrasts, light are logic in art. Only in art, logic needn’t be explained.”Exploration is continuous, as she creates art in different forms, such as drawing, painting, lithography and sculpture, in media as diverse as charcoal, oil paint, watercolour, wood and ink. One idea or theme can translate into many pieces of art. “With an idea, I may start with a sketch which may turn into a small or even a big drawing,” she says. “Then I might make a sculpture and a lithograph out of it, and draw again, this time with charcoal.”She might finish a piece, then add more pieces in a series, varying the form and technique. “Knowing how to create art in different forms, with different media and techniques, gives me freedom. And when there is freedom, opportunities are endless.”Ms Biela’s pieces centre on space, simplicity, contrast and balance. They can be abstract and figurative, like in the “Symbols and Figures” series. “I don’t feel the limits between abstract and non-abstract. Abstract can become non-abstract as figures can become symbols.”Elite+ 53