IN A CONSTANT RHYTHM
Brussels, September 2022
Whether on canvas, wallpaper, or Valentino's Haute Couture pieces, there are many ways to contemplate the work of ANASTASIA BAY. For the French artist, her painting practice is all about the dynamic flow - and indeed, there is as much movement in the construction of her pieces as in the way she diversifies this medium. Over the years, Bay - who graduated from Les Beaux Arts de Paris and is now based in Brussels - quickly asserted her pictorial identity through her large formats and the sculptural characters present in each of her series. After having widely exhibited her work in Europe, Anastasia is cur- rently preparing a new series for an upcoming show in New York, which we had the pleasure of previewing in her studio. On this occasion, we discussed narrative, gesture, art history, the democratization of painting, and everything that makes Anastasia's work visually and conceptually captivating.
Each series you present tells a story and is rich in references to subjects like sports, mythology, or art history. Where do these stories come from and how do you build a narration between your paintings?
In the beginning, there is always my intuition. Then when I’m painting, things get linked together by correlation or analogy, like a puzzle. I don’t anticipate in advance, the themes are built up by going back and forth, mixing personal stories, readings and iconographies. I often work with series so that paintings have a sequential narrative. There is a sentence by Paul Klee that I really like, “Writing and drawing are the same in their essence.” In my work, each painting can work as a layer of a global reading.
Who are these figures you represent, and why do you depict them as sculptural genderless bodies?
The figures come from daily life or painting history. They are linked from painting to painting as in a topography, where each character plays an interchangeable role from one picture to another. I’m interested in representing characters rather than bodies, so that everyone can project themselves into them. In the history of painting, the female body has often been represented by men. I'm not trying to create this feeling of attraction-repulsion that many male painters had towards the subjects they represented. I look for my characters to be embodied by what they do and not by a carnal desire. This is why I paint them in sculptural, almost symbolic positions. Also, when you look at them, you can see the old construction lines. I like that these lines remain visible, it’s a way to show how the painting has been written. It took me some time to find out how to show this fragility of the line.
What fragility?
I come from a drawing background. In the beginning, I absolutely wanted to keep the fluidity of my sketch lines, so I bought a projector to project small drawings on large canvases. It didn't work, obviously - the lines were too controlled and the spontaneity was completely missing. In the end, I found the spontaneity that I had when I used to draw by letting the failures, hesitations, and layers of construction be visible within the work. There are so many things you can do on a canvas. Why do I put a foot here and not there? For me, the real point of painting is to leave all these doubts exposed.
How do you approach the different formats that are present in each of your exhibitions?
The large paintings are two meters high, which let enough space for full-scale figures in the composition. We find this same relation to scale in the social frescoes of the muralists. This way, the viewer is fully integrated into the scene. For the painter, the canvas becomes a space where you can easily lose yourself and forget the figurative aspect of painting. This requires going back and forth, working in zones without losing the balance of the whole picture.
The small formats exist as extracts – as cinema close-ups to focus on emotion. These portraits are like masks that show an overplayed emotion with crying, screaming or worrying characters, and some added elements such as a cigarette or a glass.
This connection between small and large formats generates a strong rhythm in your series. Where does this dynamic come from?
I have always been very close to comics since I started drawing and I think it keeps influencing the way I compose my paintings. Each painting is like a cartoon box with the characters moving from one frame to another. The fact that every line remains visible also creates a sort of vibration. Probably the sensation of movement comes from all these things added together.
You also make the medium itself ‘move’. How do collaborations allow you to make your practice flexible?
I believe that painting should not be reduced to its traditional understanding and should take multiple forms. Early on, I had this idea of defetishising painting by making it collective in its creation and democratic in its distribution. I came to Brussels to open the exhibition space Clovis XV with a collective. This space was dedicated to contemporary art where we curated exhibitions with multiple artists’ works and organized events mixing mediums such as installations, videos and performances. The project is currently on pause, but it is a good way to keep the collective energy going, especially because painting is a very solitary practice. I think collaborative projects allow dialogue with other trades, whether it's with young artists or with fashion houses like Valentino.
Do you think transferring painting on clothes the way you did with Valentino is a way to democratize the painting?
It can be, but in this case, it’s different because it was for Haute Couture, rather than ready-to-wear. That said, seeing the painting ‘worn’ already brings new perspectives. There is something very interesting in the fact that a fashion house is reappropriating my work - which features dancing bodies - and transposing it onto actual bodies in movement. It makes sense in a certain way.
Does moving from the surface of the canvas to the volume of the garments in#uence your practice?
It's funny, I never made the connection before, but after the collaboration with Valentino, I did several paintings where scenes from other paintings were represented on vases. The previous painting becomes the pattern for the next one. I also realized that there were motifs on the clothes of some paintings’ characters of Le Réveil des Cariatides series, which I recently presented in Paris. It’s a bit like doing Haute Couture in my own paintings.
We are now in your studio, surrounded by falling characters. What is this new series about and where will this fall lead?
I am currently working on a series inspired by Pieter Brueghel's painting, The Blind Leading the Blind. At the time, it was a satire of spiritual blindness, but this image has many contemporary resonances. Since I have painted a lot of static characters, now, I want to work on the fall and compose a round of characters falling, dragging in this fall each other, as well as the viewer. It's like a generalized fall - which we are all !nally a part of - because we all fall apart at one time or another.
Anastasia is wearing all clothes Balenciaga
Interview by Hanna Pallot
Photography by Nicky Lapierre