Sandrine Dickel grew up within a united, loving and supportive French family. She has been immersed in a very open cultural universe. Her sensitivity of colours, shapes and movement reflect her curiosity about the world around her. I met her at a very young age, when we were in high school, and I immediately detected her open-mindedness, her listening and her thirst to learn from the other. Each area she undertakes to know quickly proves to be mastered. Sandrine has conducted her professional career with efficiency as senior officer in the French administration. She had three children who inherited her ability to adapt from a changing world.
She courageously decided to abandon her profession, to follow her turbulent husband abroad, and converted herself to art, with an attachment and a motivation that amaze me every day. Her art reflects her personality: turned towards the other, all the sensory captors fully opened… Lights, colours, strokes, materials, movements, reflect an exacerbated sensitivity and a great finesse of perception. Canada is a constant source of inspiration with its cultural mixing resulting from a patchwork of populations, languages and horizons, and the diversity of its landscapes and seasons.
– David Dickel, husband. (@dickeldavid)
What hood are you?
Toronto not far from Casa Loma.
What do you do?
I am a painter. My studio is my basement at home but also all the images I have in my head. I take also a lot of photos. I am fascinated by the movement, the light and the fragmentation. I use different media; oil paint mainly but also inks and charcoal. The dust of charcoal and pastels, the fluidity and lack of control of the ink, the touch of the crumpled paper and transparency are all paths I like to follow. I let the gestures come into action, until the subject answers. I explore existence and femininity, a reflection on the idea of passing time, on transformation, temporality and life.
What are you currently working on?
I started this year a project I called Fresco, oil paint on paper, canvas or Mylar. Time fells right for a deep exploration of passing time and state of our feelings. In my paintings, the body is a landscape. Transparency and the unspoken show the fragility and intimacy in human interaction.
Simultaneously, I explore self-portraiture as a kind of conversation with my work in a serious but also very playful and liberating way. I have also begun to take photographs that are an end in themselves or an inspiration for painting or drawing.
Finally, I am doing a project called “one day, one portrait, 10min”, since the beginning of 2021, one portrait every day, an incredible and very “instructive” experience. I use very different media (6×8,5’’ on paper) and they always reflect the mood of the day.
Where can we find your work?
You can follow my daily work on Instagram @sandickart or look at my website https://sandrinedickel.blog.
You can also contact me directly Sandrine.dickel@gmail.com
