The Work of Emmanuelle Tartas takes us away!
A palette of reds and earthy colours *(laterite), a personal universe of metaphorical motifs, masks, fantastic figures and other expressionist shapes, transport us into a dream in which coexist nostalgia for a childhood spent in Africa (Senegal) and reflection on the exile, identity and the colonial influence.
The artist is influenced by Klimt 's confrontation of the materials and Egon Schiele 's expressive line.
The strong expression of her personal history echoes the work of Louise Bourgeois, while the subversive use of textiles carries the wake of Annette Messager.
Finally, her work naturally ties into the Critical Figuration movement that because*, as the Salon's founders wrote in 1978: "We are pursuing the dream of a powerfully figurative art which would engage us in a progressively emancipating battle...".
Her raw use of materials such as clay, plaster and oakum are a symbol of what might be a double identity, Western and African. The pure pigments, symbolising earth and laterite, mixed with linseed oil and applied with fingers or hard brushes, allows the colour to vibrate and contrast with the glazes and delicate patterns created with soft brushes.

Emmanuelle Tartas, born in 1967 in Senegal, lives and works in Bordeaux.