Christel Delrieu Petraud (b. 1976) is a celebrated French artist whose works are widely exhibited both nationally and internationally. In her work, Petraud explores the limited surface of the painting with a scientific interrogation of time, space and matter. To illustrate this, Petraud uses the decimals of PI numbers in her scientific and aesthetic matrix language and has employed a self-invented graphic alphabet based solely on lines.
After studying Fine Arts, Petraud first specialized with in-depth studies of color and computer graphics as a web designer and graphic designer for a decade. From 2012, her scientific and aesthetic inspirations converge in her approach to painterly portraiture. With a preference for candid, saturated colors drawn from neoplasticism, conceptual art and pop art, she reflects on the impact of color in the creative process. It is this combination of science, design and color that makes each of her portraits unique and makes parallel universes tangible that are normally hidden for the human eye.
“My endless questioning of human nature and the world around us stems from an insatiable curiosity and a utopian search for truth. I believe it is necessary to represent the intangible. Art allows me to offer my interpretation of the truth in images – to see the invisible – to construct the immaterial – to capture time. In any case, offer another point of view.” – Petraud
Christel Petraud’s work shows that when a certain level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to merge in aesthetics, plasticity and form. With a gold medal at the Foro Europa of Art, Madrid (2016), her work is recognized worldwide.
