Premio Combat Prize

Val d’Off / BioHers is an atypical background, but a crayon was never far away. From the start, draw in the margins, don’t feel like it, pleasure, need. 2002 from the margins she emerges - illustrates ”Le Petit Ménestrel” (The Little Minstrel) series / composers introduced to children - 28 CD booklets for Universal Classic Music.2004 - personal project - graphic creation of the world of the ”Canopus” - a child’s universe, ambassador for tolerance & inter-cultural dialogue.2006 - ”The Canopus” becomes a preschool animated TV series with 52 episodes broadcast daily on the France 5 television channel.2009 - Atelier/workshop - total immersion - emotions thrust on canvas - need to express herself with other mediums.2012 - First look at outr’intime (beyond Intimacy) - enters the spotlight (Talents in Neuilly - March 2012 / Itinerary of the Ateliers in Neuilly - 13/14 Oct’ 2012)2013 - Galerie Gavart (75008 Paris/France) / Salon d’Automne (Champs-Elysées/75008 Paris/France) / Salon des Artistes Français & Salon des Artistes Indépendants (Grand Palais/75008 Paris/France°Val d’Off / PhiloHas always been immersed in the world of images & words, absorbing them and drawing her inspiration from there. Attentive to the virtual world that surrounds us, remains very attached to paper (the basis of her work) & to typography (newspapers, books, handwritten typos right up to digital formats that allow her to ”melt” the typo into her creations). Paints by instinct - feeling of freedom - no limit. Blends colours as well as B/W (inks, crayons, acrylics, pastels...) on a torn and pasted back together background - loves the depth that emerges from this patchwork of materials.More recently, she used handwritten words (with their meaning) to draw on blank papers or newspapers torn-patched up on canvas. Words are thrown on this patchwork of material, handwritten again and again until saturation, scattered, pasted here and there according to the drawing, wrong side up, ride side up, superimposed with abandon, or isolated… lost… legible… building up relief, shadow and light appear naturally, painting crystallizes. Give her words, she make paintings out of them.We find her passion for photography through the composition, the shadow & light of her paintings - a kind of freeze frame of an expression, an emotion, a detail, a movement, a moment in life.Val d’Off / Mixed technique… using papers, words, typography…Before starting painting, I entirely cover the canvas with torn-patched up paper medium (newspapers, books, printed or handwritten pages, blank pages, sheet music, photos). Most of the time, I’m painting on thick canvas; all those pieces of papers are stuck on it including the back & the sides. The drawings, writing, inks, pencils and other pigments are superimposed on this patchwork of material. If I take a photo as a basis of my design, I work it upstream via digital media (inserting shadow, light, typo, effects…). Then I print my creation, tear it in small pieces of papers and reconstitute it by gluing the torn pieces on the canvas, more or less accurately... Now time to finalize with inks, pencils or other pigments superimposed on this patchwork. All those pieces of papers stuck all together are catching light differently whether you look at the painting from front or from side.memory in memoriam_explanationsAs usual newspapers torn-patched up on canvas, like so many pieces of life that built us. Words (in French in the painting) such as words memory, memory pain, blackout, emptiness, nothingness, memories… are thrown on this patchwork of material, written again and again until saturation, scattered, pasted here and there according to the drawing, wrong side up, ride side up, superimposed with abandon, or isolated… lost… legible… building up relief, shadow and light appear naturally, painting crystallizes. Tight framing, the drawing is stuck on the edges of the painting, man can’t move anymore… obedient to those words, these memories, his life that desert. Head is getting empty, words and memories had burst, only remains the symbolism of the hand trying to catch up letters falling down… Letters drawn in the head are empty… they become darker and darker when falling… What is invisible from the inside is visible from the outside… Final touch of this painful trip with pencils.Al di là di_explanationsBlank papers or newspapers torn-patched up on canvas. Words (in French in the painting) such as taboos, the not-said, hearsay, family secrets, word demon, sorrow demon, too much sorrow, word-ache, a word too many, no more words… are thrown on this patchwork of material, handwritten again and again until saturation, scattered, pasted here and there, wrong side up, ride side up, superimposed with abandon, or isolated… lost… legible… building up relief, shadow and light appear naturally. Those words, distilled over the years, built like a wall… remains the eyes as the only way of speech. Final touch of this silent speech with pencils, inks, acrylic.Tradimento_explanationsI worked with digital media on a photo to insert typed words and some other effects. Here no meaning, words are used for their symbolism and their graphics. I printed my creation, tore it in pieces and reconstituted my design by gluing the pieces on the canvas. I finalized my painting with pencils, inks and acrylic. The tearing on the shoulder is real, not painted… such as the betrayal!Free spirit – open-minded – close-ups – patchwork of materials – shadow – light – acrylic – inks – pastels – torn and pasted together paper – depth – letting go – zoom on emotions – expressions – pleasure...«A picture lives by the beholder… » Pablo Picasso