PROFILES

“I’m of the generation that is attached to its things.”

“My mother dreamed of being a painter so she didn’t make things hard for me!” confides Mathilde Oscar. Born in Paris in 1980, this natural nomad studied art history, mural decoration and graphic design before opening her photography studio in Cannes and being taken on by YellowKorner, which has shown her Milkmaid 2.0. pouring milk while on her mobile to the world, an image channelling Vermeer but mostly the agelessness of womankind. Mathilde’s adventure in art began as a child by teaching herself to paint. When adult, the fiercely independent brunette had six of her biggest paintings stolen during a house move, a misadventure that brought her creativity to an abrupt temporary halt. Then in 2012 she again succumbed to the sirens of art, but now photographic prints in numbered limited editions. Painting to photography – not a big step for Mathilde since: “What I most enjoy is creating a whole world with all its little details in order to take a photograph,” explains this meticulous artist, who makes all the costumes for her pictures herself and hunts out vintage accessories for the decors. “I’m of the generation that is attached to its things. Every detail is thought out beforehand, so I do very little retouching afterwards.” Methodical and perfectionist, Mathilde puts everything she has into her work, and conversely tries to simplify her personal life. Her rather nostalgic, adeptly kitsch pop-art culture feeds on Renaissance, Baroque and classical art, building a personal repertoire in which we encounter witches, flappers and Frida Kahlo, her icon whom she has tattooed on her body. Aside from oneiric aesthetics, her latest series of photographs, Insane Worlds, throws out a topical message through its deliberately paradoxical, oxymoronic, female worlds, as in Vegan Butcher Girl and Impure Virgin. Discover it at Tino Studio in Cannes and Galerie Sauvage in Nice.

Par Tanja Stojanov / Photo Jean_Michel Sordello