Cath Math
Rencontre avec l'artiste Catherine Matausch - court métrage pour We Art Together | |
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 Things One |  Things Two |
 Bodies /1/ |  Bodies /2/ |
 The earth /1/ |  The earth /2/ |
Born in Brignoles in the Var, professional journalist, Catherine Matausch has been presenting the weekend national edition news on french TV channel France 3 ( Broadcasts 12/13 and 19/20) since 2004. The visual artist,
who signs "Cath Math" and exhibits since 2006, leads a double life with as
much talent as discretion.
Her pictorial expression is quite concrete and yet subtly abstract. A musical approach
punctuated with immediate shapes, plunged into the silence and vertiginous works of Bach, like Klee who transcended the figurative with a method of abstraction. A pure primitivist postcubism dream? For a long time, a face with Cycladic features (see video) has obsessed her.
With ambivalence, she sketches pastel variations.
"Les Choses" series is inspired by Giorgio Morandi, an influence that she recognizes (cf. Les
Choses /1/) as well as by De Staël. De Staël from Agrigento. A miracle of balance that
appeared after a long stay in Capri. Her admirable blues match the transparency of the South Seas without being kitsch. She uses the matteristic technique. She works oils with a knife. Her light, possibly a recollection of the Var, infuses oils and pastels. Attached to Provence, she however states that she grew up with colors that were not always from the region.
A brilliant pastel artist, the incarnate series, "Les Corps" recalls Degas. Her gesture is precise
and quick. An ode to travel, an answer to a call that comes from the heart, not the head...pastels
burst forth. They become sensual, feminist when they follow the curves of an exultantly
beautiful pregnant model.
Landscapes from the series, "La Terre" demonstrate another pictorial experience. A powerful, staggering encounter with terra incognita, luminosity, an instant. These very colorful pastels literally take the spectator away in the sense that the landscape is closer than we think. Color creates an illusion of the exotic.
Although her profession requires her to control her image, she is especially able to paint images like the Masters who painted icons in praise of God’s glory, without relinquishing style. Her work is spiritual without being didactic. An agnostic, from iconostas, Cath Math maintained the icon in its intimacy, speaking to the heart and soul. The selected sizes – mid-size to very small (Les choses) – are examples. Her untitled works are soberly classified according to elements: Earth, Air, Body, Things.
Concision and light. Those are the two qualities at the heart of the blue pastel genesis by Cath Math, the artist. She admits that she often strays from them and currently is attracted to white.
Total light. Turnerian fog, shimmering desert. All of her work is a Mystery turned toward light.
Photograph of the artist © Alix Germain
Texts © Elise Walter – Galerie d’art WE ART