In the last few posts we looked at biomimicry, marine creatures and materials science and stellar inspirations.
There is an artist that through her designs creates structures that evoke animal shapes, but also abstract cosmic inspirations, Canadian Elisabeth Picard.
Based in Montreal, Picard draws her artistic inspirations from nature and in particular from the intricate architectural forms generated by the processes of growth and transformation in nature. Besides, the techniques she employs point at artisanal basket weaving, braiding, and knotting,
Yet the materials she uses for her pieces are mainly industrial, so that the artist juxtaposes in her practice different principles, the natural Vs the synthetic and the artisanal Vs the industrial, coming up with an enchanting dynamic interplay.
Drawn towards organic patterns, Picard is very much fascinated by modern advancements in design, architecture, and engineering and the result of this dichotomic approach emerges in inventive pieces made with transparent zip-ties that at times evoke the intricate architectures of Philip Beesley.
Manipulating them through dyeing, bending, and deconstructing, and employing a structural assemblage method that echoes the randomness prevalent in nature's own construction, Picard forms unique pieces.
Her works go from smaller spiral shapes reminiscent of organisms and micro-organisms (such as "Strongylocentrotus", 2013) to abstract tapestries like "Rainbow Mountains" (2015) that, suspended from the ceiling, unfurl like colourful cosmos or cascade like vibrant curtains.
In this way the humble zip-ties are radically transformed into something else: in some cases they look like marine organisms, purple, yellow and salmon pink, with tentacles extending and reaching out; in others they seem to reproduce the cosmic architectures we are discovering through the James Webb Space Telescope. At times Picard's smaller pieces also look like samples that could be employed as the foundation units for larger architectural projects.
In more recent pieces ("Mouvement perpétuel 01", 2020), the artist also employed dyed nylon rope and PLA to create textile based pieces, and kinetic artworks (Torsion 01, 2020). The latter integrate motors and microcontrollers that allow the pieces to rotate and twist.
The sculptures have a tactile and visual quality about them: when you see them you want to reach out and touch these woven plastic pieces, while Picard's backlight works offer a visual feast for the eyes as they are enhanced by the translucent hues reminiscent of the depths of water bodies and the captivating phenomenon of bioluminescence.
Surprisingly, Elisabeth Picard hasn't been collaborating with a fashion house yet. Imagining one of her monumental pieces gracing the runway is indeed easy, but her creations could actually be transformed into showpieces or even accessories blending art, architecture and fashion.
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