Swan Scalabre

Figurative Portrait on Horseback in Oil on Wood, Western n°13_Swan Scalabre

Born in the Alpes de Haute Provence region of France in 1977, Swan Scalabre investigates the silent gaze placed on women, portraying them in a delicate, dreamlike state. After graduating the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Scalabre worked as an artistic director in the communication and fashion sectors, carrying her penchant for design and textiles into her current body of work. Painting with oil on wood, her small-scale works invite the viewer to get close in order to properly view the intricate details and surface textures. Intimate in subject matter and size, Scalabre’s paintings are placed in wooden shadowbox frames that she affectionately calls “secret boxes.” Poetic and nostalgic, her work communicates a constant desire to escape reality and temporality while illustrating the common plights of women from classic movies, fairytales, and their iconographies. Exuding femininity, memory, and at times pain, with each new composition Scalabre reveals another glimpse into her fantastical world that begs to be visited. Swan Scalabre currently lives and works in Gers, France.