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interview

30th Jul 2010

I am so excited to share with you an interview about my work for Pikaland. About one month ago, Amy, the founder of Pikaland, a blog focusing on art & illustration, invited me for an interview. It was a really interesting experience to answer all her questions. It helped me to sit back and thought about my works. It was the perfect time to write about it. I love her introduction, it is so sweet and she is right, I experiment with various materials. I cannot choose only one. As my work is still growing, I am interested to see what it will become in the upcoming years. Here it is: http://pikaland.com/2010/07/29/artist-interview-nathalie-chikhi

This drawing: stripes_2009_11×8.5inches_graphite permanent markers on paper

2 Responses

  1. Soraya
    09th Aug 2010
    1

    Hi Nathalie,

    I just read the interview – already there are so many references to follow up and things to search out, which will lead to more. I really enjoyed your commentary on the piece Intrinsic and its connection to tumbleweed in Hitchcock- there is something so disturbing, in the careful arrangement in a square, of objects which seem invested with tension – it’s odd also as they are associated with nothing going on. Also your comments on Emroglio. I have a funny feeling sometimes that it does not matter what you do in life, many avenues may take you to a familiar corridor, and I don’t mean to refer to fate but somehow to Attitude.

    Throughout the interview your sheer energy really comes through. It also made me realise once again quite how successful the piece Emptiness is. Thank you for this. The sketchbooks available on your artist page are beautiful and endearing. I hope you get to make the bronze sculpture this year. And if you ever need an assistant…

    Soraya

  2. Nathalie
    10th Aug 2010
    2

    Hello Soraya,
    Thanks again for your comment. It was a real work to prepare this interview & I am happy to share my thoughts and work process. I am glad that the viewer got some clues which help him to understand the work. Yes, I wish that I will find the budget to create the bronze. The permanent studio and assistants should follow ;-)

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The expressives, contemplatives

16th Jul 2010

This week, I have been working on a video. The expressives, contemplatives is an experimental video using abstract shapes and random color’s association. Each screen apparition is accentuated with a sound. The story board is sober, based on contrast and colors rhythmic. Sometimes, some textured or gradients backgrounds disrupt the thread. This motion can be seen as hypnotic and meditative. Some feelings of quietness and peacefulness can submerge the viewer.  Each color has its own strength, with a low or high degree of presence. Some color combination reinforces the effect on the viewer. The whole group is given to be observed with an intimate attention.
You can watch it on YouTube: The expressives, contemplatives.

3 Responses

  1. Soraya
    19th Jul 2010
    1

    Hi Nathalie,

    It’s great to see a video on here, using the immersive possibilities of moving images, particularly in the context of an illuminated screen- which is how we get most of our information these days. Really enjoyed the difference.

    Was reading your statement on your page and find it interesting that you work as a kind of technician after you have the concept, by making it ‘real’ in various mediums. (I like this turn of phrase.)Does this ever alter what you have in your mind?

    This is the first time I’ve seen a video of yours on Newbloodart, and it’s great to see another vehicle for your interest in ‘mental intimacy’. I also like the idea that “ideas come in waves”, and wondered if video allows you to give the same experience to the viewer?

  2. Nathalie Chikhi
    21st Jul 2010
    2

    Hello Soraya. Thanks you for your comment. I am glad that you enjoy the video. I like the idea of technician; I think the artist can be seen as a finder of solution. He is the one to know, find out what is the best medium to express and translate his concept. Some of my projects use only one medium and some others call many, like this video. I think it will be interesting to transcript the motion into a book. So, right now, I cannot tell you more about the concept, but I am working on it. Each time, I got an idea, the project appears clearly in my mind, let’s say is like a movie screen in my head. Also, the artwork is the result of what is inside and I really enjoy making it. Most of the time, it is pretty close of what I imagine. If not, I look for the best solution.

    For many years, I have been shy of sharing my work and express fully myself through it. I had a fear to share my ‘mental intimacy’. More, I do better I feel. I saw my artwork as a visual language between who I am and the viewer. Sometimes an artwork is a mirror with a perfect reflection and some other times is blurred. And it is where I interfere in the process. I choose what I will give to the viewer. When I say ‘ideas come in waves’, I mean I have some time where my creative mind is very active-productive, many ideas come together. I dedicate my schedule to make a first prototype, some sketches or write the artwork’s statement. After that, I have some ‘flat’ time or time of regeneration that I use to read, make an artwork or some marketing tasks.

    The video is like an installation, a painting or a sculpture. I use it as a medium to express the idea. I thought animated pictures as I saw it inside of me. I wish the viewer will get a personal experience while watching it. I gave an artwork to look at and each watcher is invited to read it with its own interpretation. It is just something that I cannot manipulate.

  3. Nathalie
    22nd Jul 2010
    3

    Hey Darwin! Can you tell us more about your project, please? Feel free to email-me or post here your links. Tks.

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pixels #8

02nd Jun 2010


I want to show you my new series titled pixels ( I am not only into pyramids).
This one is the #8. I am attracted by colors. I love the process of mixing colors to find some various tone. I wanted to play with symetrical effect and regular shapes using some stuffs already existing. The wood sticks were perfect. I did my color and composition using a vector software and printed each project. I decline the process to make 2D and 3D subjects. Paint a wood stick and juxtapoze it with another leads to build some pixelled images.

3 Responses

  1. Helen Booth
    10th Jun 2010
    1

    The colours are beautiful Nathalie. They remind me of Peruvian textiles. I wish I was as brave with my own colour.

  2. Nathalie Chikhi
    16th Jun 2010
    2

    Thanks Helen! That’s interesting/intringuing because I will travel this summer in Peru. ;-)

  3. Helen Booth
    16th Jun 2010
    3

    Have a good time. I think you’ll love it. the colours are so evocative of the place..

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~the white thing~ textile sculpture

10th May 2010

 ~the white thing~ is completed. I have been sewing more than 250 white feathers during 3 days. A faster process than expected. The white thing is like a metaphor to the bird migration. Go one point to another without anything else that yourself.

4 Responses

  1. Sarah (Newbloodart)
    13th May 2010
    1

    I think it’s so beautiful.

  2. Nathalie Chikhi
    19th May 2010
    2

    Thanks Sarah!

  3. Soraya
    19th Jul 2010
    3

    Hi Nathalie,

    The titles of your posts recently have been reminding me of an Emily Dickinson quotation:
    “Hope is the thing with feathers…”
    Wondering if you had read that before?
    Woody Allen said once: “How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not ‘the thing with feathers.’ The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich.”

  4. Nathalie Chikhi
    29th Jul 2010
    4

    Hello Soraya,
    I didn’t know this quotation. Thanks to share it.

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~feathers~

01st May 2010

During the past 2 days, I have been sewing more than 250 white feathers on the circular base. I did that by hand. I would love to invite the public to touch it. The completion of this artwork is coming to this end; I am so excited to finish it.

See you Monday for the end.

2 Responses

  1. Tony Matthews
    05th May 2010
    1

    When can we see the finished artwork

  2. Nathalie Chikhi
    07th May 2010
    2

    Hello Tony,
    Monday turns as a Friday! I will show the final piece today. Thanks for following. :-)

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~the white thing~

28th Apr 2010

 

It is the first time, that I am sharing the process of creating an artwork. Until now, I have been quite shy to do it. Anyway, for the next few days, I will post the evolution of a new artwork that I am creating. What is it? I decided to answer for a competition title ‘nomadic’. I felt instantly attract by the word, so much descriptive of my way of life. Since, I decided to create a strong body of work, back in 2005, I practice art wherever I live, from temporary domestic space to hotel rooms. Create artwork out of my art space studio is now part of the process. It helps me to be more independent of things. I mean, travelling with a minimum of stuffs like clothes and beauty products, including art supplies. Some of my work used objects that you can buy at your local supermarket. For this one, it is what I did. The included picture is a white fabric that I just cut out. At the beginning, I was thinking tents to answer to the project. It was too obvious and the pictures that I have in my mind will take weeks to do it without my sewing-machine. So, one morning, as I was doing my shopping at the groceries store, I got this idea ~the white thing~.

See you tomorrow, as I am working on it!

2 Responses

  1. myka baum
    30th Apr 2010
    1

    Hi Nathalie,

    this is my first participation on the blog. I was very intrigued by your image (I do moon abstracts) and thus was drawn to your ‘white thing’.
    Interesting idea and beautiful result!
    myka

  2. Nathalie Chikhi
    07th May 2010
    2

    Thanks Mika for your comment. Sorry, I didn’t see your post before today. I am pretty new to blog on NBA. Anyway. I wrote a new post with the completed piece, today. I am glad you love it! Also, I just visited your website and our works are quite related in some ways. That’s interesting! Often, after working on colored artworks, the last one ‘pixels’ (still in progress), I have a time of quietness which calls monochromatic works.

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