Imperfect Circles | Sylvie Renault

Atlante dell’Arte Contemporanea 2021 – De Agostini Editore

by Sylvie | May 5, 2021 | Home, News, Press Roundup

Imperfect Circles – known by her birth name Sylvie Renault, was born in Ischia (NA) in 1976. She graduated in Graphic Design and Advertising Illustration at IED. She furthered her knowledge with a master’s degree in Fashion Art Direction.

From a painterly point of view, her production is inspired by the studies of Sufi philosophy, which envisages seven distinct levels of evolution of being aimed at approaching understanding and Divine essence, and also by the teachings of Master Osho.

Often her works are the result of synesthetic experiences, which include music: this is how journeys between the sense of sight and that of hearing come to life. A chromo-formal agglomerate made of lines, vortexes, curves, and coloristic expressions is the painterly alphabet through which the author’s emotions are unveiled, in the face of which the observer is engaged by an intense emotional activity.

This task is entrusted to Sylvie’s multiple (irregular) circles that constitute her stylistic hallmark: set against delicately colored backgrounds, they are charged with vitality and joy, projecting the viewer onto another perspective of harmony and beauty. Indeed, the circle, devoid as it is of corners and edges, symbolizes harmony and, thanks to the absence of oppositions, translates the undifferentiated into equality of principles. A metaphor for the spirit and the immateriality of the soul, it is therefore traceable to an intellectual and spiritual dimension.

However, Renault’s circles also suggest biological forms. Moreover, the lattice formed by the reiteration of the circular silhouette also seems like a journey through the deepest spaces of human introspection. In this way, a sign forest comes to life that refers to the complexity of the baroque (barrueco, irregular pearl), a style rich in decorations, aiming to strike the imagination with perspective effects and bold and virtuoso formal solutions, an intention subsequently taken up by the intricate phytoform pattern of Art Nouveau.

Since 1989, the painter has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in major Italian and foreign cities, including Rome, Naples, Olbia, Turin, Padua, Milan, London, and New York. In particular, among her solo exhibitions, to name but a few: “MesAlfie”, Bibliothé Contemporary Art Gallery, Rome 2017; “I want to thank you so much for…”, Spazio Veneziano, Rome, 2016; “Imperfect Circles”, Artport Corner (Olbia Airport), Olbia, and Ecos Gallery, Rome, 2013.

Review by May Abboud – Institute of Fine Arts of Beirut

by Sylvie | Dec 14, 2016 | Home, Reviewes

Those who, like me, met Sylvie in June 2011 and saw her work then will notice the immense leap of the “girl” of that time, who has now become a great painter.
I never would have thought that such a vast jump in the “ungrateful” world of Art could be possible for this delicate girl, fearful of an uncertain future, especially for today’s artists.
I know something about this: I spent my life trying to explain to people, to my students at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Beirut, that ceramics (my specialty) and terracotta are not “minor arts”, but “major arts”, having been the first expression of man on this earth!
So, I am familiar with all the challenges faced by those who wish to express themselves artistically and make it their livelihood. Nowadays, it’s even more challenging.
But Sylvie, who carries within her very name a “forest” and has the distinct ability to endure everything, to be persistent and determined, managed with her courage to overcome the difficulties of modern life.
The beautiful music of MesAlfie adds beauty and rhythm to her circles, making them even more harmonious. Each canvas takes us on a deep journey, far into her cosmos of circles.
From the painting “The Secret of May” to “A dime in a bag”, there is a chasm of difference and evolution! Certainly, all her works were already beautiful. But now a rainbow of thousands of colors has burst forth, filled with hope, opening towards a better world, and this is the message from Sylvie’s universe.
I have always taught my students that Art, above all, must touch the heart. And it is this feeling that struck me in her works. I thank her for this. Well done, Sylvie.

May Abboud,
Beirut 22/11/2016

I want to thank you so much for…

by Sylvie | Dec 13, 2016 | Exhibitions, Home

“I want to thank you so much for…” is much more than an exhibition. It’s a profound experience, a journey suspended between vision and listening, a path where painting and music choose and merge together, guiding the visitor beyond form, into the innermost core of emotions. Those of the artist, unveiled through the canvases, and those of each of us, who on that journey will find new hopes, imprints, and promises. Circles, vortexes, clusters, shapes, non-shapes, explosions of colors. This is the universe of Sylvie Renault, the Artist of Imperfect Circles, who tells of the beauty of all of us, perfectly imperfect.

“Each canvas takes us on a distant journey, in a rainbow of thousands of colors, of hopes, opening up to a better world, and this is Sylvie’s message,” explains May Abboud, from the National Institute of Fine Arts in Beirut.

The works from the “Im perfect Circles” project are all created in time with music; each painterly gesture is imbued with the emotions conveyed by the songs. And it will be music that gives rhythm to the circles, making them alive and throbbing, during the vernissage, when the singer-songwriter MesAlfie will perform acoustic versions of the tracks from his latest album “Hey Super”, to which the collection is entirely inspired by and dedicated to. In the following days, an mp3 player provided for each displayed canvas will allow visitors to intimately connect with the artist’s emotional universe.

Sylvie Renault (born 1976) is, as she likes to call herself, an imperfect painter, an imperfect woman, an artist of the Imperfect Circles. Painter, creative, concept designer, Art Director, she graduated from the European Institute of Design and has participated, from 1989 to today, in many group and solo exhibitions in Rome, Naples, Olbia, Turin, Padua, Milan, London, and New York. Her artistic production is inspired by the studies of Sufi philosophy and the teachings of Master Osho.

“I want to thank you so much for…” by Sylvie Renault and MesAlfie
16 – 31 December 2016 Free entry every day from 5 pm to 8 pm.
Spazio Venenziano, via Reno 18/a, Rome.

Destined for Success – The Joy of Art – Sangiorgio Publisher

by Sylvie | Nov 1, 2016 | Home, News, Press Roundup

Here we notice lyrical-abstract pictorial compositions that convey an elegant formality in their alluring informality. Renault’s works must be approached and enjoyed for their message embedded within the weave of color, revealed on the canvas through a refined and well-considered aesthetic language.
Stefania Bisson

Lagioiadell'Arte - Sangiorgio Editore — Lagioiadell’Arte – Sangiorgio Editorev

Baroque Ecstasy – Critique by Francesco Gallo Mazzeo

by Sylvie | Mar 6, 2014 | Home, Reviewes

Baroque Ecstasy

Porf. Francesco Gallo Mazzeo

The concentration of the sign,
the apotheosis of color in a captivating blend,
for sight, for touch, all aimed at chasing each other
in a grand golden archipelago that forms the backdrop to a grand dance,
to an exaltation of chromatisms, gentle, caressing,
as can occur in a mental search for oneself,
in the body of another, with a melody that softens in raptured contemplation.
The background changes, like the hours of light and the suggestion of shadow,
capturing a spiritual connection of the gaze, almost a relentless journey,
like a grand prayer that unfolds in all directions.
An ecstasy, therefore a mystical and sensual rapture that crosses
the invisible body of thought from side to side, like a phantom
taking on the appearance of a large grid, which binds the horizon
and at the same time frees it, like a baroque modernity
that is turned towards an elsewhere of the invisible,
without breaking ties with its own history,
which is that of concentration and meditation,
even if everything around is noise, chaos, redundancy, loss of identity!
It is precisely this elsewhere that comes together here,
with wise adherence to strict rules of pictorial construction
and at the same time a hymn to freedom and joy.
Abstraction, certainly!
Decoration, certainly!
But in the sense of hospitality, quotations, blending,
which is the highest sense of timelessness and the charm
of each of us in this enigma,
which we cannot and do not want to do without.