Revista Mustique N° 34, Rosario Oyhanarte, Primavera 2013

Isabel de Laborde

Passionate, worm, introspective, the French-Mexican visual artist living in Argentina, welcomed us at her studio, to talk about the poetry that lives behind her works. 

I knew it since childhood. My parents were indirectly, artists; Papa was a collectionist, he wrote very well and had a great sense of humor. Mother liked perfection. But art is never about perfection. She liked aestheticism, but art is the contrary: it is a caotic balance that uses life’s metaphores, what one is. The difficulties, the defects, art is not precisely aesthetic. Rilke used to say that beauty is that level of the terrible that one is prepared to endure. 

What techniques do you work with?

A bit of everything. I have made engravings with acid, stuccos, I interventions on Wood, sculptures, . . but my main language is China ink, which is like my writings. I also use acrylics, and I also work on ancient documents that I find in Paris or San telmo.

We constantly receive information. It is something interesting, but this constant excitement must be processed. So we must be seriously responsible with the way we spend our time. We must administrate it well.

It is very important to have idle time, and that is why I enjoy this working studio. I come to work, I bring books. . .when I travel I also work. Thanks to the photos I record in my computer, I can keep imagining, and I also write, because it helps me to understand. I am very interested in poetry: writing is the major art.

What does your art speak about in the first place.? About the human being, the landscape, Friendship?

It talks about the alchemy we carry inside. Everything is included in us humans: Goodness, evil, strength, fragility, bravery, fear. I an very interested in how everything is processed, how the painting is being produced; In that, I remember Yuyo Noé: with him everything is rhythm, lines, dots, sketches. I start off with a sketch, I use caos, the accident. I look for resonance, the heart beat, I love to work with the spur of the moment, the not knowing what is going to happen.  This is a playing space. You must only start. It is like starting a music and dancing ; you do it, without thinking how. In order to work one must be in training, like a ballerina, and being aware of the world’s problems. . .I am interested in detecting the symbols of what is happening to us as a human community, process it all, and come back to an authentic exchange, accept the fragility, play with the words. . . and help the world.