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the various influences I was exposed to
        either consciously or unconsciously. Among
        the influences I am aware of are Vermeer,
        Chardin, and Morandi, and, closer to our
        time, Wayne Thiebaud, Jeff Koons, David
        Hockney, and James Rosenquist.
         I am a member of several pastel societies
        including the Pastel Society of America
        (signature member), Art du Pastel en France.
        I also take part in the exhibitions of the
        Pastellistes de France. I take part in about
        seven to 10 exhibitions per year including a
        personal one in my studio in Alsace, France.
         I use different pastel brands because, in
        my opinion, no single range of pastel sticks
        can cover all the needs of the painter. A
        pastellist needs many hues as mixing colors
        is very limited contrarily to oil painting.   Perfume bottle and checkered background, pastel, 23 x 31" (58 x 79 cm)
        They also need various degrees of hardness,   My basic purpose was to enhance the process of distortion of the checkered background
        which a single brand does not provide. As   as seen through a perfume flask. I liked the interaction of geometry and glass.
                                   The drawing was patiently carried out with a carbon pencil. I saw to it that the edges
        I love detail, I must resort to pastel pencils   be somewhat blurred in order to offset the overall strictness of the drawing.
        that are harder and thinner than sticks.  The first person who saw the finished pastel noticed that a grinning face with a long
        Acquiring technical know-how is one thing;   nose emerged from the bottle. Would that correspond to a subliminal message?
        Shirts, pastel, 31 x 23"
             (79 x 58 cm)                                   another is to learn to see. I react now to
          This stack of shirts                              subjects I would not have even noticed 10
           caught my eye on                                 years ago. In reality, you can find a lot of
          the account of the                                artists who master the technical side of their
           abstract pattern                                 craft. But you will find less artists who carry a
         formed by the stripes.                             personal vision. This is what I am striving for:
          Generally speaking,
          I often realize that                              to continue working so that people say when
         most pictures I paint                              seeing my paintings, “This is a Malnati!”
         display a more or less                              Trying to suspect what my art could
          obvious pattern of                                become in the future, I can only anticipate
         abstract composition.                              broad tendencies:
             I have never                                      » Maybe a larger recourse to symbolics
         indulged in abstract                                  »  As far as colors are concerned, maybe less
          painting, and I only                               contrasts and more subtle harmony
        moderately appreciate
           nonfigurative art,                                  »  Probably simpler and plainer subjects with
          but here we have a                                 less flamboyance
         strong structure à la                               Who knows which wind will blow into
          Mondrian. On top of                               my sails?
          that, the subject is
         unusual and complies
          with my continuous
         wish to explore new
              territories.






                                                                      Pastel Demonstration  117


   FrancoisMalnati.indd   117                                                     6/22/16   11:20 AM
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