Danielle Desplan

Mixed Media Collages

I use painting as a medium to translate impressions, emotions and memories into a visual format. The techniques involved are based on the superimposition of several layers of painting/collages.

An acrylic image may serve as the initial background. Then, several layers of "collaged" fragments are added, producing a three-dimensional effect - incorporating textured handmade papers, pieces from old books, wall paper, printed elements, old letters, calligraphy from XIXth century archives, etc ... - to create a distinctive, antiquarian appearance.

The original image has thus been reformulated along with the collage elements and is integrated into a singular work of art, combining several techniques and media such as pastel, watercolor and printmaking. The final effect is that of a delicately burnished and finely weathered patina.

Drawn upon the past, the artwork becomes a magical interplay between the formal and the symbolic, antiquity and present, time and place, while creating a personal genre of modern fresco.