Sa majesté la fleur de bananier

Concept

My name is Maria Lvova and I'm an artist from Geneva. I see things through the prism of colors. Since childhood, I see with colors, I hear with colors, I remember people and events with color combinations. I'm one of the synesthetes (usually by the age of 5, children's sight, taste and smell receptors are separated, while synesthetes - not all, or not all are separated). I associate color with smells, faces and events. I find it interesting to observe how our memory captures fragments of the past and colors them in different ways. It's these different combinations that emerge as memories of tastes, smells, events and people. On canvas, they are transformed into certain images, torn from impressions of life, in frames of different focus and sharpness. In my work, I explore the synergy of elements from different cultural traditions on European territory, particularly in Switzerland. I observe their unification and interaction, be it ornament and architecture, flowers, fruit, plants, faces and silhouettes. I'm very fond of the Swiss modernist painters. I'm inspired by the landscapes of Felix Vallotton and Ferdinand Hodler. I work a lot with acrylics, watercolors and digital. I use photographs and videos to support my compositions. I often come up with new ideas, or sketch out future paintings in a computer program. Ironically, the computer processing of images gives me the inspiration for new research into the material, leading to the creation of something entirely new.