Painter, muralist and screen printer Florence Blanchard was born in Montpellier and began writing graffiti in the early 1990s under the moniker ‘Ema’. She later graduated with a PhD in Molecular Genetics from New York University. It was then that she began translating her studies into large-scale public murals, combining her work as a graffiti writer with her discoveries as a scientist.
“My work is inspired both by graffiti and science. In graffiti, letters are just an excuse to play with shapes and colours. Over time I got rid of the letter element and started concentrating exclusively on colour compositions. With my background in science and with a specialty in microscopy I can’t help but imagining abstract molecular landscapes as If viewed through a powerful microscopic lens.”
Blanchard credits painting graffiti for her technique in colour and composition. Though she began painting graffiti in the nineties, continuing when she moved to New York, making a living as a painter never occurred until she sold her first paintings in an exhibition in New York ten years ago. Now her practice is primarily painting, with a focus on water-based inks and acrylics to lessen the impact on the environment and her health.
“I spent many years looking at the structure of various living things through powerful microscope lenses. This has permanently affected the way I see the world.”
Among Blanchard’s recent commissioned public installations are ‘Steel Jungle’, a stepped mural on the Quayside, Newcastle which reworks the colours of the city’s iconic Tyne Bridge. As well as ‘Bounce!’ a large-scale mural covering Site Square in the artist’s home city, Sheffield where she owns her own print studio.
“My most recent [mural] is a 1000 sqm floor painting commissioned in 2020 by Site gallery at Site square in Sheffield. I loved working on this project. The square was a neglected concrete outdoor public space, which already had some elements of design. It just needed a splash of colour to offset these elements and the result was amazing.”
When it comes to these larger projects Blanchard finds a freedom and ease in selecting colours, often drawing upon the palette already present within the space to inform the mural. Using photoshop to prepare mock-ups before actualising her vision, she works to find a balance between her own creativity and the client’s expectations. The shapes within Blanchard’s prints, paintings and murals offer a molecular landscape that encourages the viewer to imagine the piece from a microscopic view, inviting them to observe the world from a different angle. At its heart, Blanchard’s work seeks to question our idea of visual perception.
“I painted my first really big [mural] in Hokkaido Japan in 2014. It was a self-funded project on the side of a building in rural countryside. The people I dealt with couldn’t get their head around the fact that wanted to paint the whole building and wouldn’t let me hire a cherry picker. I was offered all sorts of man-made contraptions to help me get as high as possible, but none got me to the top. So I had to politely try and show them that wouldn’t work, until I finally was put in touch with a cherry picker company.”
Florence’s work will be one of the highlights at Infinite Nature; a new pop-up exhibition in Oslo opening 29 June, hosted by RedHouse Gallery. Blanchard will exhibit a series of paintings and prints that relate directly to public commissions she has undertaken, celebrating the relationship of art, science and the urban landscape. Also featured in the exhibition line-up are new works by four of RedHouse Original’s most successful international contemporary artists: renowned international snowboarder turned artist, Danny Larsen, as well as originals and editions by Schoph and Thomas James Butler.
For more information visit www.redhouseoriginals.com
