Christine Safa’s (b. 1994, Le Chesnay, France; lives and works
in Paris, France) use of color and texture play a pivotal role
in achieving the dreamy poeticism in her work and harken
back to the influence of 15th century Italian painting and
its relation to frescoes. She achieves her vibrant pallet
by mixing pure pigment with oil, and creates plaster-like
surfaces with rabbit skin glue and marble powder. This
chalky, thickened substrate allows her to probe the canvas,
to carve and scrape in her search for the image. The process
is rightfully a slow one, as Safa forever encapsulates these
fleeting moments into canvas, and her practice thus reveals
itself as the poetic investigation and recollection of time
passed.
Safa received the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-
Arts Diploma. In 2021 she was invited by Etel Adnan to
participate in a group exhibition at Levy Gorvy Gallery in
Paris. Solo exhibitions include Bortolami, New York, NY,
2024 Frac Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 2023;
Galerie Lelong & Co., Paris, France, 2023; and ICA Milano,
Milan, Italy, 2022.
