KCP-20x20-book-laponia-redsheep

KERSTIN PAILLARD - LAPONIA

Looking for Northern Lights





REDSHEEP GALLERY - STOCKHOLM

I was raised between Stockholm, Sweden and southern France. Since childhood, I have felt divided
between the introspective, solitary culture of the vast Swedish landscapes and the more emotive
character of the French. My work embodies this personal sense of ambivalence. I have constructed a
visual trope about interiority, introspection and how mental process can bring about greater common
expressiveness.
In my work I try to offer a painterly meditation on the human psyche, drawing upon my experiences
with the landscapes of Sweden and France. My work is meant to facilitate individual introspection
through the use of abstract, haptic forms and a limited color palette. I am interested in ideas of
interiority and how the individual relates to the collective in an increasingly isolated world. I want to
remind the viewer how much natural and built environments dictate the development of self, and that
emotion, inward reflection, and the subconscious play a crucial role in creating a sense of belonging.
I began painting at an early age, always attuned to the ways that colour and light merged with thought
itself. I have a long-held obsession with the skies and their ever changing designs and I try to contin-
uously refine and extend the traditions of lyrical abstraction. By experimenting the processes and the
limits of the dry pastel, I bring together the immediacy of Abstract Expressionism, the overall consis-
tency of form and process of the Color Field Painting and the intuitive gesture of the Action Painting.
The paintings are only made of pure pigments from the dry pastels that I crush, smash and smear on
the canvas. My process is physical and tactile, engaging all of my body and senses. I paint laying on
the floor, I need to feel near and part of the painting, working from the four sides, walking around
the canvas and literally being in the painting. The gesture is intense and specific, the pace high, the
composition completed in my mind, the work is made in one sitting and the degrees of separation
between feeling and fulfillment are narrow. This physical process combined with an experimental
painting technique, that vacillates between structure and intuition and allows for the unexpected to
appear, is comparable to the primitive dances, where the orchestrated movements are countered by
spontaneity and chance.

I am moved by colour relationships, but I don’t want my pictures appreciated solely for their spec-
tral qualities. I’m interested in expressing strong emotions and deep feelings, creating a meaningful
dialogue with the spectators. With my work I want to immerse and envelop the viewers in a particular
atmosphere, filled with emotions and thoughts. With this intangible and emotional experience I want
to encourage introspection, critical examination of self and reflection. An Art Residency (during sum-
mer and fall 2018) in Lapland in the North of Sweden, led me to create a body of work called Laponia,
a series of artworks composed of several interconnected paintings and drawings inspired by the light,
the skies, the colours, the nature and the people of Laponia (particulary the cultural heritage and
ethnical identity of the Sami People). I experienced limitless views and endless landscapes, a feeling of
freedom, serenity, solitude and an awareness of the place of human beings in their environment, their
identity in a fragmented and more and more isolated and individualistic world.



Kerstin Paillard

I was raised between Stockholm, Sweden and southern France. Since childhood, I have felt divided
between the introspective, solitary culture of the vast Swedish landscapes and the more emotive
character of the French. My work embodies this personal sense of ambivalence. I have constructed a
visual trope about interiority, introspection and how mental process can bring about greater common
expressiveness.
In my work I try to offer a painterly meditation on the human psyche, drawing upon my experiences
with the landscapes of Sweden and France. My work is meant to facilitate individual introspection
through the use of abstract, haptic forms and a limited color palette. I am interested in ideas of
interiority and how the individual relates to the collective in an increasingly isolated world. I want to
remind the viewer how much natural and built environments dictate the development of self, and that
emotion, inward reflection, and the subconscious play a crucial role in creating a sense of belonging.
I began painting at an early age, always attuned to the ways that colour and light merged with thought
itself. I have a long-held obsession with the skies and their ever changing designs and I try to contin-
uously refine and extend the traditions of lyrical abstraction. By experimenting the processes and the
limits of the dry pastel, I bring together the immediacy of Abstract Expressionism, the overall consis-
tency of form and process of the Color Field Painting and the intuitive gesture of the Action Painting.
The paintings are only made of pure pigments from the dry pastels that I crush, smash and smear on
the canvas. My process is physical and tactile, engaging all of my body and senses. I paint laying on
the floor, I need to feel near and part of the painting, working from the four sides, walking around
the canvas and literally being in the painting. The gesture is intense and specific, the pace high, the
composition completed in my mind, the work is made in one sitting and the degrees of separation
between feeling and fulfillment are narrow. This physical process combined with an experimental
painting technique, that vacillates between structure and intuition and allows for the unexpected to
appear, is comparable to the primitive dances, where the orchestrated movements are countered by
spontaneity and chance.

I am moved by colour relationships, but I don’t want my pictures appreciated solely for their spec-
tral qualities. I’m interested in expressing strong emotions and deep feelings, creating a meaningful
dialogue with the spectators. With my work I want to immerse and envelop the viewers in a particular
atmosphere, filled with emotions and thoughts. With this intangible and emotional experience I want
to encourage introspection, critical examination of self and reflection. An Art Residency (during sum-
mer and fall 2018) in Lapland in the North of Sweden, led me to create a body of work called Laponia,
a series of artworks composed of several interconnected paintings and drawings inspired by the light,
the skies, the colours, the nature and the people of Laponia (particulary the cultural heritage and
ethnical identity of the Sami People). I experienced limitless views and endless landscapes, a feeling of
freedom, serenity, solitude and an awareness of the place of human beings in their environment, their
identity in a fragmented and more and more isolated and individualistic world.



Kerstin Paillard

Luna Septentrionalis Ad Septentrionalem Lucem
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018

Luna Septentrionalis Ad Septentrionalem Lucem
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018

November Afternoon in Laponia November in Laponia
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018

November Afternoon in Laponia November in Laponia
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 150x120cm/59x47” - 2018

Looking for Northern Lights I Looking for Northern Lights II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Looking for Northern Lights I Looking for Northern Lights II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Lake Reflections I Lake Reflections II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 100x100cm/39x39” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Lake Reflections I Lake Reflections II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 100x100cm/39x39” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Midnight in Laponia Waterways Reflections
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Midnight in Laponia Waterways Reflections
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Northern Skies I Northern Skies II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 70x70cm/28x28” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 70x70cm/28x28” - 2018

Northern Skies I Northern Skies II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 70x70cm/28x28” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 70x70cm/28x28” - 2018

Laponia I Laponia II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Laponia I Laponia II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 80x80cm/31x31” - 2018

Laponia III November Mist
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 50x50cm/20x20” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 100x100cm/39x39” - 2018

Laponia III November Mist
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 50x50cm/20x20” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 100x100cm/39x39” - 2018

November Mist I November Mist II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 30x30cm/12x12” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 30x30cm/12x12” - 2018

November Mist I November Mist II
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 30x30cm/12x12” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 30x30cm/12x12” - 2018

November Mist III Moonlight
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 30x30cm/12x12” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 70x70cm/28x28” - 2018

November Mist III Moonlight
Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 30x30cm/12x12” - 2018 Pigments on linen stretched canvas - 70x70cm/28x28” - 2018

Moon I Moon II Moon III Moon IV
Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019

Moon I Moon II Moon III Moon IV
Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019

Moon V Moon VI Moon VII Moon VIII
Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019

Moon V Moon VI Moon VII Moon VIII
Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019 Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019

Moon IX
Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019

Moon IX
Pigments on handmade torn deckle edges paper - 76x56cm/30x22” - 2019

Kerstin Paillard, born in 1977 in Paris, France.
She received a BFA in 1999 from the Contemporary Art School, Villa Arson, Nice, France
MFA in 2005 from the University of Montpellier, France.
Kerstin lives and works between Nice, France and Stockholm, Sweden.

Kerstin Paillard continuously refines and extends the traditions of lyrical abstraction. By experimenting the
process and the limits of the dry pastel, she brings together the immediacy of Abstract Expressionism, the
overall consistency of form and process of the Color Field Painting and the intuitive gesture of the Action
Painting.

Her work consists in only using the pure pigments of the dry pastels, that she crushes and mixes, smashes
and smears, with her fingers and hands directly onto linen canvas, spread on the studio floor, working from
all sides to create floating fields of deep and expressive color. She applies the pigments in thick layers to
create captivating and sensitive compositions.
A colorist since childhood, she began painting at an early age, always attuned to the ways that color and light
merged with thought itself. She has a long-held obsession with the skies and their ever changing designs.
In her early works from the 1990s, she started using dry pastels that she experienced and juxtaposed on
different medias, with various densities and layers, repeating vertical gestures. These led to related color
fields works on linen canvas, that she later combined with the cloud-like forms, to create deep, spiritual and
celestial paintings.
To preserve the special aspect of dry pastel and the brightness and deepness of the pure pigments, and to
heighten the effect of each color, Kerstin developed a unique process of varnishing the pastels on the canvas
by applying the mixture in many thin layers, in order to get a finnish comparable to an oil painting.

Spending time in Lapland (Art Residencies in North of Sweden), led Kerstin to create a body of work called
Laponia, which captured the indigo sunset and the multiple hues of the Northern skies, a series of paintings
composed of several interconnected artworks inspired by the light, the skies, the landscapes and the colors
of these artic areas.

She has exhibited extensively in Europe, in cities such as Stockholm, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Genova, Nice,
and and in large metropolis in the United States, like New York, Miami and Los Angeles. Her work belongs to
public and private collections worldwide and has been selected in 2019 by the FRESCO Foundation for the
Nova Prize (New York, USA) and by Akili Tommasino, the Associate Curator of The Musuem of Fine Arts of
Boston, to exhibit in the Katonah Museum of Art (Katonah, NY, USA).

Kerstin Paillard, born in 1977 in Paris, France.
She received a BFA in 1999 from the Contemporary Art School, Villa Arson, Nice, France
MFA in 2005 from the University of Montpellier, France.
Kerstin lives and works between Nice, France and Stockholm, Sweden.

Kerstin Paillard continuously refines and extends the traditions of lyrical abstraction. By experimenting the
process and the limits of the dry pastel, she brings together the immediacy of Abstract Expressionism, the
overall consistency of form and process of the Color Field Painting and the intuitive gesture of the Action
Painting.

Her work consists in only using the pure pigments of the dry pastels, that she crushes and mixes, smashes
and smears, with her fingers and hands directly onto linen canvas, spread on the studio floor, working from
all sides to create floating fields of deep and expressive color. She applies the pigments in thick layers to
create captivating and sensitive compositions.
A colorist since childhood, she began painting at an early age, always attuned to the ways that color and light
merged with thought itself. She has a long-held obsession with the skies and their ever changing designs.
In her early works from the 1990s, she started using dry pastels that she experienced and juxtaposed on
different medias, with various densities and layers, repeating vertical gestures. These led to related color
fields works on linen canvas, that she later combined with the cloud-like forms, to create deep, spiritual and
celestial paintings.
To preserve the special aspect of dry pastel and the brightness and deepness of the pure pigments, and to
heighten the effect of each color, Kerstin developed a unique process of varnishing the pastels on the canvas
by applying the mixture in many thin layers, in order to get a finnish comparable to an oil painting.

Spending time in Lapland (Art Residencies in North of Sweden), led Kerstin to create a body of work called
Laponia, which captured the indigo sunset and the multiple hues of the Northern skies, a series of paintings
composed of several interconnected artworks inspired by the light, the skies, the landscapes and the colors
of these artic areas.

She has exhibited extensively in Europe, in cities such as Stockholm, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Genova, Nice,
and and in large metropolis in the United States, like New York, Miami and Los Angeles. Her work belongs to
public and private collections worldwide and has been selected in 2019 by the FRESCO Foundation for the
Nova Prize (New York, USA) and by Akili Tommasino, the Associate Curator of The Musuem of Fine Arts of
Boston, to exhibit in the Katonah Museum of Art (Katonah, NY, USA).

REDSHEEP GALLERY - STOCKHOLM
redsheepgallery.com
[email protected]
+46 76 933 75 71