A
R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
T h e A r t o f M a
r c e l l e L a C o u r
I
paint in oils. The delicious sensation of liquid color flowing across
my canvas in full three-dimensional vibrancy has never lost its
magic for me from the first moment I was aware of it. But I cannot
even recall when that might have been, for I grew up in a family
that had paintings and painters woven all through the generations
and furnishings of our homes. My grandmere’s vivid impressionism
left wild brushstrokes of color and light reverberating in my imagination.
My aunt’s stark modernism sent me seeking for a similar simplicity,
yet I ran away to search for the serenity of hidden places where
something sublime could exist.
Awed by the masters of the past schools of the Renaissance, I studied
their methods for many years, learning traditional technique in
oils with teachers and then on my own, developing a style that reflected
these techniques and concentrating on those that enhanced my need
to create a sense of color in light that would illuminate a canvas
from within.
As an artist, I have discovered that my objectives are to show what
might be, in another realm. My love of verdant forests and ancient
groves drifted through my work and are often reoccurring themes,
either in contest or contrast to my equal fascination for the habitations
of mankind and those moments in which we take delight. With my brush
I attempt to open a gateway into enchanted worlds that take one
on unexpected journeys; where one may experience and regain an essential
part of oneself.
Currently I am working on a series of paintings that combine something
of the surreal and something playful, or simply beautiful. In these
paintings I portray my joy in the mystery and magic of wondrous
places and in the combining unusual elements. Things that make one
think. And I strive always for transcendence generated in the luminescence
of color in light.
Each painting is a chapter in a parallel life. Travel on the brushstrokes
that bear you away to that ephemeral something that lies like a
warm shadow just beneath our shared reality–that is where
I wish to take you.
Marcelle
La Cour
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Marcelle La
Cour is an artist currently based in California. Of French and Russian
heritage, she was born in Los Angeles in 1960. Growing up in a family
of artists, she does not remember a time when she did not draw or
paint. Her first recollection is at the early age of 9 months, when
lying on the living room carpet, the summer light ignited the threads
of the carpet into a glorious dance of flame and golden colors.
From that moment on she has been entranced with color in light,
and aiding her early desire to express herself, her mother, a trained
art teacher put colors into her hands before she could walk. As
she grew up, her grandmother’s impressionistic paintings had
a big impact upon her. At age 15 she won her first art competition,
in the work, "The Minuteman,"
which won first prize. This painting celebrates the Bicentennial
of America. As a winner, she traveled to Paris with her art teacher,
putting her time there to good use by attending the Louvre and Parisian
artistic communities, and in taking many photos that she has used
for further paintings.
Marcelle studied
at the University of Northridge in California as an art major, but
soon realized that she needed to study under professional artists,
which she did for some time, however she learned most of her technique
studying the Old Masters on her own. Her early works include reproductions
of the 17th Century French Masters, and her own created mural compositions
for hotels and restaurants, including her design of the 25 foot
ceiling mural in the lobby of the hotel Château Elysée
in Hollywood.
For many years,
her illustration capabilities and graphic and print designs funded
her career, while she concentrated on refining her technique. During
this time she married and had a son, and the duties of family life
took precedence in her life. She is now devoting all her time to
create her new series of expressive oil paintings.
“Something
has always been there within me, calling me to express the beauty
and possibilities that send me soaring. I desire to make the familiar
unique, the ordinary much more than extraordinary, and over all,
to brush an illuminating light upon our vision in a way that inspires
and fulfills.” –– Marcelle La Cour
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Solo
Exhibitions
2001: Modern Surrealism" - The Art Collection, Los Angeles,
CA (USA)
1998: "Versatility in Media" - Santa Barbara, CA (USA)
1996: "Art Expressions" - Hollywood, CA (USA)
Group Exhibitions
1997: Celebrity Center for the Arts - Hollywood, CA (USA)
1995: : The Art Gallery, Glendale, California
1991: Celebrity Center for the Arts - Hollywood, CA (USA)
1989: The Art Gallery - Los Angeles, CA (USA)
Collections
Air France
Le Chateau Elysée, Hollywood, CA
B. Gilham Snr., private collection
N.D. Knox, private collection
Joy & John Taylor, private collection
Lissa Redmond, private collection
Grants and Awards
1976
First Place, Air France Bicentennial competition, Los Angeles, CA
(USA)
Education
1979: B. A., California State University of Northridge
1983: Studied with Larry Gluck, founder of Mission Renaissance School
of Art
2001: Studied with master painter, Frank Covino
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