PASCALE TAURUA @ EDINBURGH ART FAIR

Pascale Taurua was born in the pacific island of New Caledonia in 1960. At the age of eighteen, she was crowned Miss France, but quickly realised that the fast-paced fashionable lifestyle wasn’t for her. She returned to peace and serenity of the Pacific Islands to pursue her true passion, painting; she “left the crown for a brush.”

She studied at the Conservatory of Arts in Tahiti, where she held her first-ever exhibition. In 2010, she met Frank Janca, Christoff Debusschère and François Legrand, known painters from the school in Estampe whose Master was François Lejeune. This proved to be a turning point in her career, and gave a new, bolder aspect to the work. In 2005, she chose to settle permanently in mainland France, where she now teaches and practices painting. In 2016, she joined us here at Urbane with a series of portraits that embody the glamour and vitality of the beauty queen alter-ego she left behind at the tender age of eighteen.

Select pieces are spliced with pop-art elements that heighten the sense of glamour and reference popular culture, through a style that is once again working its way back into the mainstream (see our resident graffiti artist Keymi for more pop-art style works).

Despite the apparent realism, Pascale’s paintings are in fact far looser, and freer than they might first appear. In this way, the artist embodies the spirit of her characters through her painting technique. Softened edges emphasise the sensuality of her female figures, and the slick of a bright red lip provides a focus for the viewer’s eye.

Taurua’s work is bold and colourful, fun and vibrant; she maintains an aesthetic that is seductive and charismatic; her paintings will be on show at the Edinburgh Art Fair at stand D4 from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th November 2016.