Nathalie Du Pasquier

Nathalie Du Pasquier (b. 1957, Bordeaux, France) lives and works in Milan, Italy. Her career began as an autodidact, travelling through Africa, Australia, and India, reading and observing other cultures. In 1979, she arrived in Italy, first in Rome and then in Milan, where she met several designers who set her along the path of European and urban 20th-century culture. In 1981, she became part of the Memphis group, for which she was to design numerous fabrics, carpets, and other items. In 1987, she decided to concentrate entirely on painting, and through the observation of works from antiquity to the 20th century, she produced oil paintings of still life with simplified compositions. Over time, the everyday objects depicted in her paintings were replaced by wooden constructions made by the artist herself. Thus, her work becomes a skilful game of juxtapositions between flat surfaces and three-dimensional objects capable of sculpting space and providing a new representation, destabilising the traditional boundaries that separate works of art from their inherent exhibition structures. Through her work, Du Pasquier explores the links that are established between objects and the space in which they are located. This investigation manifests itself in a multitude of forms: paintings, sculptures, drawings, models, constructions, books and ceramics.

Portrait: Photo by Ilvio Gallo