Petit Oiseau

Claire Denarie- Soffietti, South Africa

Born and raised in Versailles, I was an autodidactic art student from the outset. After eight years in Barbados and four children , myself and husband (an Italian architect) decided to settle for good and now reside in beautiful Cape Town South Africa.   I have exhibited on a very international platform. From the Notorious “Sandy Lane” in Barbados with clients such as Pavarotti and Cliff Richards, to the creative streets of Chelsea New York city at Agora art gallery. Cape Town and Johannesburg have also been the home to many of my works. I had multiple features written in Habitat Magazine . I have exhibited in Canada, Montreal, whereby the I won first prize in “Best international emerging artist of 2013”.     I have been exhibiting all over the Western Cape. Namely Franschoek, Stellenbosch , Hermanus and Cape Town. I was featured in The SA Institute of Artists & Designers : 3rd Edition of The Collector's Guide to Art and Artists in SA this September 2014. Today I exhibit at “Art in the Yard” gallery in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch Art Gallery, in the Western Cape.   My works have evolved over the years. From depicting quiet moments: serene portraits; a tranquil woodland path; a woman lounging on a chair, to Pink Elephants to Charlie Chaplin’s and Coco Chanels. However, the colours are more intense than in reality, while the compositions are so tightly framed that they become dynamic, and the portrait subjects never reveal all to the viewer. My figures have secrets, and hint at an interior world within the picture frame. My contemporary impressionist painting style and bold colour choice makes the 2D picture world seem more real.   There is this element of distortion evident in some of my pieces. When asked whether this sensationalizes any particular personal interpretation of the world, and life, my response is that Nothing pleases me more than the grotesque of human nature! I don’t do pretty and I become colour-blind when it comes to pastels and sober colours’. Nature and human nature, to me, are perfect and ought to remain untouched in its finished state. I can only allow myself to marvel, not to comprehend. I paint to translate the absurdities of my mind, and stop when it fails to entertain me.