Featured Artist France Benoit

Canadian artist France Benoit presents a series of encaustics inspired by the beauty and imperfection of life. View more of her portfolio on her website.

 

 

I feel privileged to work every day using an ancient way of painting; Encaustic. I’ve always loved to work with living materials, and what better than a material made of beeswax and tree sap?

 

 

Encaustic offers an unparalleled conservation of color, as well as a perfectly natural and environmentally friendly medium for painting. I mix my own colors most of the time by adding pigments to my medium.

 

 

My creative process is in line with my values: respect for the environment and exploration of human behavior and emotions. This influence manifests itself in my surroundings and in our humanity, which explains why I prefer an abstract or stylized approach. Spending hours in my studio mastering various techniques has proven to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Over time, it has become the DNA of my artistic journey.

 

 

I mostly work in series, my current project being called The Imperfect Wheels of Life. The word “imperfect” often has a negative connotation. It sounds like a flaw, something that needs to be corrected, concealed or avoided at all costs. But imperfections are a necessary and very important component of our existence. In fact, our imperfections were perfectly designed to help us learn and understand our journey.

 

 

It is only our perception that determines what is perfect or not. Yet most of us strive to come as close as possible to our idea of perfection, whether in how we see ourselves or how we see people around them. We often have a hard time accepting that things don’t turn out exactly the way we want them to. It can cause us to feel frustrated, depressed, unsure, or even helpless.

 

 

How do we free ourselves from a perfectionist mentality and begin to accept an imperfect life in an imperfect society?

 

 

This series is a work on “letting go” of the imperfections that I perceive. I start with a stone, and then I choose a limited color palette. I essentially try to recycle the materials in my workshop or buy secondhand materials. Every painting in the series will depict a different emotion or feeling. In the final product, you can see a certain beauty that stands out despite the “flaws.”

 

 

As an emerging artist, I am deeply grateful to enter my first gallery with this series. I will be presenting part of the Imperfect wheel of life from August at the Lenoir Gallery Montreal-Paris on Saint-Paul street West in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

 

France Benoit invites you to follow on Instagram and Facebook.

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