When one sits in a darkened room in the Aspen Art Gallery, that’s when one really sees the spark of life in a painting.
That’s certainly true, anyway, of Isabelle Dupuy’s work. The French-American impressionist isn’t kidding when she says she plays with layers and color when interpreting nature’s existing canvas — some of her works protrude by several millimeters.
“The textures is really created with palette knife. Some are big, some are very thin, some are round. That’s how I can build a texture. When I do a poppy, I’m going to do a round palette knife. When I do sunflowers, I do very narrow, so I can follow the petals,” the Provincial artist said, her accent adding as much charm to the interview as her blades add texture to her work. “The things about painting with texture is, it’s very hard to photograph. I don’t do prints. I do only original. It pushes me to go forward, to always do something new, so every painting is new. That’s been kind of a challenge for me but I love it because I’m always painting.”
COVID-19 brought yet more challenges, as the pandemic did for everyone across the globe in every sector. For Dupuy, limited travel meant a sort of cutoff to her feed of inspiration — without travel, it’s difficult to see and, in turn, paint the world. Or so one would think.
“For me, the internet was great because I could see a lot of photos. For me, I never lack for inspiration because I paint nature,” she said. “Some artists have up and down series, but for me, I don’t have time to paint what I want to paint.”
That said, Dupuy gave her interview Wednesday from Crested Butte, where she and her husband Bradley Dupuy — who wears a second hat as agent — were staying in Crested Butte before coming to Aspen to do live painting this weekend, including Saturday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m, 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
That, too, feels like a nice return to family and a sort of tradition after a year interrupted. Isabelle has been in a long-term relationship with Aspen Art Gallery — 12 years — and extends the same “family” term to the gallery crew who host her when she’s here and her work even when she’s not.
“They really respect us as artists,” Isabelle said. “It’s kind of a family situation. It’s great as an artist to have a gallery that really has your best interests and wants to sell your work. It was really great during COVID … they really connected with our collectors … people started buying because they were sick and tired of seeing their blank wall in their house, and that was great. I was so happy to paint for people who were looking for adventure in their house.”
Now, with COVID-19 restrictions having been largely lifted, people won’t have to confine themselves to their homes in order to enjoy Dupuy’s work. She’s putting her process on almost-full display this weekend in front of the gallery, working on the flower sections of larger works in real time.
The reason for the abridged presentation is because spectators would otherwise be watching for weeks, both she and Bradley said.
But for Ben Tomkins, Aspen Art Gallery director, much of the magic happens after the painting process, when he has the opportunity to show new depths of a finished work to those willing to sit down and take a moment to really see.
“The first thing she told me when we first met was that she puts a little bit more sparkle in this,” he said, dimming the lights after moving a comparatively simple piece — “Maple of the Autumn Sunrise,” a 30-inch-by-40-inch painting that proved it was hiding secret sapphire hues in its trunk and literally glistening accents in its flame-informed hues for the leaves.
“That sparkle, it’s just more glaze. But it’s the window into the cave because in our heads, we know what it is, it’s just a bunch of paint. But she’s extended this classic impressionism by — on this side is our heads knowing, on this side is our ability to sensate, feel, to have a soul … which is illuminated by distance and space and temperature and time of day and moisture. It’s all art,” Tomkins said in the art gallery.
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After a pandemic, a French artist living in Texas gets to return to a sense of home in Aspen - Aspen Daily News
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