Anouk Mercier

Anouk Mercier’s practice begins in the collecting of images; from 17th and 18th Century Romantic landscape etchings to hand-tinted Victorian photographs and postcards of alpine hotels. Although somewhat disparate both visually and historically, these images are unified by their idealised depictions of their subject (be it nature or architecture) and Anouk uses this common thread to combine the visual languages that they represent throughout her practice.

The result are fictional, ‘collaged’ landscapes and scenes, composed of many fragments of existing etchings and other collected images. Influenced by Romanticism and the Sublime these melancholic worlds, undefined by time or space, merge references to the past with futuristic propositions. They present, in doing so, the timeless yearning for escapism through the portrayal of a fragmented, yet beautiful ideal, whilst also exploring the mysterious, the abysmal and the uncanny that often lurks behind idylls.

Anouk Mercier studied classical drawing at the Beaux Arts in Paris before returning to the UK to complete a BA (hons) in Art and Visual Culture at the University of the West of England (UWE) in 2008.  She continues to work from Bristol. Alongside her practice Anouk is an active promoter of drawing in Bristol and further afield, having co-founded Bristol Drawing Club in 2009 and now acting as a tutor for Bristol Drawing School.

Exhibiting at Griffin Gallery in The Tragedy of Landscape in February 2015.

EDUCATION

2005-2008 BA(hons) Art and Visual Culture. The University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol.

2002-2003 Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts (Paris) Classical Drawing Course (Summer Courses in Fresco, Modelage and Art History)

(Last updated 02.02.2015)