Dana-Fiona Armour
Visual artist, established in Paris and resident at POUSH. Her installations and sculptures mix materials, colors and shapes. Giving an organic aspect to marble and that of skin to silicone. These blocks of stone become soft, supple forms reminiscent of flesh (organs or sometimes even bizarre beings from a David Cronenberg film). The silicone relaxes, unfolds, attached to a stainless steel bar like skin that a strange being has removed, moulting into a new entity. There is no longer any real distinction between humans, animals, objects, synthetic and organic materials. Dana transcends the boundaries of matter and species in a new form imbued with a strange sensuality. A sort of cold eroticism of a scientific laboratory. Dana is one of those artists who have a transdisciplinary practice where science plays a fundamental role in her research and her plastic work, she is in a way an artist-researcher and her pieces are more sensitive and emotional interpretations of the facts. Thus, artists and scientists mix, collaborate to bring about a new level of understanding, going beyond common norms and visions.
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How do you choose the materials you work with?
The choice of materials is an essential component of my work, moreover I attach a lot of importance to mixing them together so that, in a certain way, they are all on an equal footing. That it is whether it is calcium powder, dehydrated pig's blood or marble, silicone or steel. I thus create a hybrid world where materials and subjects interact.
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If in your work color is not very present due to a rather clinical universe, close to the research laboratory, in Valentine's collections colors are very important, did you feel an affinity towards them? here?
The choice of my colors is very important despite their subtlety. The shades are often organic, evoking skin tone. This is found in my stone objects but also in silicone skins.
If in your work color is not very present due to a rather clinical universe, close to the research laboratory, in Valentine's collections colors are very important, did you feel an affinity towards them?
The choice of my colors is very important despite their subtlety. The shades are often organic, evoking skin tone. This is found in my stone objects but also in silicone skins.
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Then comes the form, inherent to each material to quickly quote Aristotle. The shapes of the body, the shapes of the clothes as a second skin that protects and enhances the silhouette. Did Valentine's pieces inspired by the work wardrobe and the uniform seem to you to fulfill this dual function of comfort, protection and enhancement?
What I like about Valentine's pieces is precisely their functional aspect but also their very feminine and aesthetic side. She knows how to mix all these aspects without making any compromises. By working in an almost sculptural way, using drapery for example, which is also part of my body of work.
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