Artist Statement
I use liberated brush strokes to open my canvas, perspectives to create imaginations, lines to navigate and color palettes to signify objects as you enter into my art. My desire is to have my paintings:
- Connect with feelings, emotions and thoughts in a way that is difficult to express in any other way.
- Provide a universal language to appreciate differences and uniqueness.
- Capture a glimpse of nature, beauty, culture and society from the 21st century.
- Preserve and record events, places, objects and history and share my gift and legacy with others.
In sum, in the words of Vincent Van Gogh, “I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say, ‘he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.’”
Artist's Biography
Anne-Lise Merchant, a contemporary figurative French artist, creates her oil paintings in France and, more recently, in South Florida. Her painting reflects the richness of two different cultures: French and American. For Anne-Lise, art is a permanent search.
From an early age, drawing was at the center of Anne-Lise’s interest. Anne-Lise has received extensive training in France at the École des Beaux-Arts and have received numerous awards and recognitions in France and more recently in the US. Her paintings are exhibited in art galleries and exclusive art fairs.
Anne-Lise is a member of the Oil Painting Association of America (OPA) and the National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Association (NOAPS). She has a Masters of Law degree from Université de Picardie Jules Verne in France and practiced business law prior to pursuing her passion of becoming an international artist.
Reflection & Inspiration
“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”
– Twyla Tharp
“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.”
– Piet Mondrian
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
“Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.”
– Pablo Picasso
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
– Edgar Degas
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”
– Georgia O’Keeffe
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
– Aristotle
“A work of art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t art at all.”
– Paul Cézanne
“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”
– Salvador Dali
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
– Scott Adams
“Every artist was first an amateur.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
– Thomas Merton
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
– Leonardo Da Vinci
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”
– Pablo Picasso
“In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Painting is a means of self-enlightenment.”
– John Olsen
“Art is a line around your thoughts.”
– Gustav Klimt