A long fight for the mastery of the elements to transform and work upon began, intended to brush off all their inherent rigidity while letting subtlety and transparency of color and the wealth of textures emerge, forcing upon the limits which technique usually imposes to a work of art. The road was now free to turn towards painting.

This is how her canvases become a place where color flows freely, merging subtly and harmoniously with other raw materials (sand, marble powder, sawdust, paper, cloth,...), thus projecting the result beyond the plain surface.

Maria Luisa Swayne maintains with her canvases a ritual rapport that is reminiscent of the rites of initiation of medieval apprentices. Maria Luisa prepares her canvases herself, affixing the multiple layers, carefully and slowly mixing the pigments, creating an atmosphere that conjures patience and concentration.

This alchemial ceremony finds its source in two paradoxical concerns: the recovery of the mere pleasure of painting and the mastering of a sensual relationship with her canvas in order to let spring the creative impulse. But at the same time, the long craftsmanship allows the artist to go beyond spontaneous art and give shape to a creative project aimed at eliciting impressions that reasoning alone cannot fathom. The artist is less concerned with shapes conveying a precise meaning. There even is a deliberate will to escape from the figurative in order to prevent an unnecessary intellectualization that might disrupt sensual enjoyment.

The public must be confronted directly with the dialogue between the different layers and the sensory perception that clearly stems from it. This explains why the artist eludes titles to her works, because titles tend to orient the observer’s look, limiting the natural dialectics between the canvas and the spirit.

Paris, France 2010