JOSETTE DACOSTA

My inspiration comes from the landscapes around me, in the Basque Country and elsewhere. Drawing on what I see and feel, I paint in vivid, contrasting colours to express the intensity of light and colour. I use oil paints on canvases and acrylic paints on paper. In one series, I used tissue paper to create a surface of papier mâché that gives a sense of depth and movement.

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Here’s what an art critic, Christine Clerc, wrote after seeing some of these paintings: "The strength of this artist lies in pulling you into a universe in which you truly sense the sounds and the smells, the colours and the tumultuous thickenings.” What led me into this way of painting? According to the perceptive words of this art critic (which seem to me to sum things up precisely), “an ever-urgent need to shout out, in colour, a whole nuanced palette of feelings.”