Entrelacs Interlaced: Nicole Dufour

All artistic creation is a play between needing an idea and the urgency of a moment which lives by finding support, materials, space and form. It could be playful, dramatic, conceptual or even spiritual but it needs to transmit, above all else, a revelation of the senses of understanding and perception.

Nicole Dufour, an artist who keeps her options open to her creativity in her exhibition entitled JOURS SUR TOILE, which translates literally as “day of webs”. She is obsessed with structures of lines and weavings of materials in that she questions the works that she plays with until the result is the solution that each labyrinthic interlace becomes a perfect composition. Behind her immaculate stitchings come symbols of purity, form and themes. She uses paper and plastics to construct and deconstruct interlacings of black and red threads composing a unique tapestry entitled “JOURS SUR TOILE.” The pieces allow one to imagine masks of sacrifice or robes of constraint or even protective armour. She addresses our intimate selves, whether feminine or masculine, questioning our sensuality with an added provocation due to the fact that the materials are fragile, frail, and degradable.

Working with ink, fabric and paper she is at the forefront of painting, weaving and sculpture combined where she pulls, weaves and braids the threads of meaning. Her weaved paintings are calligraphies of scrambled, meaningless writings that enliven the work.

Born in Geneva, Nicole Dufour studied Graphic Design and Chinese. She went to China first in 1982 and then moved to Hong Kong where she lived for ten years. She later returned to China, Paris, Tapei and now lives in Kyoto, Japan.