Beachcomber Magazine 04

Alix Le Juge PAINTING TO SEE PEINDRE POUR VOIR For Alix Le Juge, a Mauritian visual artist, art does not seek to imitate reality but rather to make it visible. It is an instrument to discover the world and oneself. Pour Alix Le Juge, plasticienne mauricienne, l’art ne cherche pas à imiter le réel mais à le rendre visible. C’est un instrument de découverte du monde et de soi-même. Y ou drive along the coast, turn inland and follow the Sèche river path. Then, near Vacoas, an untamed garden of camphor trees, mango trees, litchis, and giant bamboo runs wild around a contem- porary building of wood and glass: the house of Alix Le Juge, which she designed some ten years ago with her engineer husband. To one side, above the garage, is her studio. Sam, a white dog, leads us to it. Alix is dressed in faded blue, almost the same colour as her grey-green eyes. THE MEETING The place is light and orderly. The paintings are stacked facing the walls, which are splashed with paint. She keeps her hands clasped together as if for reassurance. Gradually her shyness vanishes and, one by one, the paintings are revealed. “ I grew up in South Africa where I was born in 1967. After studying at Durban University, I worked as a graphic designer. In 1991, I decided to come and live in Mauritius, where my family comes from – mine was one of the first families to settle here. Wherever I am, I have the same feeling of exile. In South Africa I was Mauritian. Here, I’m South African... My father was captain of a command ship, as is my brother today. Xavier, my great-uncle, was a painter. ” But Alix’s artistic engagement, which coincided with her arrival in Mauritius, she owes especially to her discovery of the works of Nicolas de Staël and Mark Rothko. And more generally, to nature, the living source of her inspiration. LOOKING INWARD “ I have always lived in wide open landscapes. They resonate with me. In my work, I don’t seek to recount the external geography, but rather to read in the prism of my emotion. I look into the landscape as if into a mirror. ” To help her do this, Alix takes frequent lengthy walks. The places she goes to have become familiar. “ I have almost daily appointments with nature: for example the beach at Le Morne. I’ll often do charcoal sketches when I’m there. Then back in the studio I work from memory. Memory is selective. It interprets, and goes much deeper to find its source. What interests me is what remains of the landscape in my memory. What I remember of it. ” A sort of “ looking inward ”, which is the sole subject of her latest series of works. “S ometimes I paint with my eyes closed, blindly, to concentrate fully on my hand movement. To follow what I see inside, to probe deep into my subconscious. I concentrate. In complete silence, I enter my dream. It’s a form of meditation. There is no intention. No control. I feel vulnerable and, at that moment, I discover that it’s a strength ”, says Alix. SHARING On the walls, which gradually fill with vibrant colours, revealing an indirect self-portrait. A heavy heart starts to beat in the myriad tints of blue. Here and there a gaping red wound pierces the paper. Sometimes the stroke is fast, instantaneous. Other times it moves more slowly. There, the landscape disappears under a shroud of melancholy. Here, that tenuous moment vibrates at dawn before the landscape has yet remembered colour. With or without the filter of a landscape, she always probes deep into her soul. Far frombeing narcissistic or self-centred, Alix is remarkably sincere in her work. Her idea is BY VIRGINIE LUC PHOTOGRAPHS NATHALIE BAETENS 