Annick Zimmermann
http://www.annick-zimmermann.com
Annick Zimmerman’s extensive career since stuying at the School of Fine Arts of Beauvais has been punctuated with regional, national and international expositions and salons, which have contributed to establishing her renown. With her sound knowledge of Art History, she was able to immerse herself in the artwork of the greatest contemporary painters, and create a very personal style combining the fluidity and evanescence characteristic of late Impressionism and Claude Monet with the rubbing and scratching techniques used by Max Ernst, as well as the dissolving shapes of Nicolas de Staël.
Annick Zimmermann’s pictorial technique has matured over the years, going from subordinating media by a process of meticulous sanding to layering delicate glazings. The artist does not paint on site, but draws on her recollections of the numerous journeys she has made to the various continents, which prove an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The impressions and visions that she portrays are dreamlike, intended to transport us into her magical, graphical and colourful world, which lies somewhere between abstraction and figuration. While her subject matter is precise, colour, she explains, is always the “driving force” behind her superbly researched artwork. It is through colour that “the painting comes to life . . . and escapes reality,” creating an extremely rich, original and poetic language. We could apply what Joan Miró said of Paul Klee’s art to Annick Zimmermann’s creations: “In any plastic expression there is something more than painting-painting; one must go beyond to reach these areas of deepest emotion.” Her intuitive creation does not seek to convey messages, but to unleash pure emotion in the observer by playing on their imagination.
In her most recent paintings, which she has entitled “Japonisant” (“Japanese-Inspired”), Annick Zimmermann has created nothing short of an alchemy of Synthetism and Japanese art, thanks to a fine balance between concise drawing work and the subjective saturation of her increasingly honed palette. Her artwork is both sensual and spiritual, offering a hypnotising description of a whole inner world. It is a journey of discovery...
Annick Zimmermann’s pictorial technique has matured over the years, going from subordinating media by a process of meticulous sanding to layering delicate glazings. The artist does not paint on site, but draws on her recollections of the numerous journeys she has made to the various continents, which prove an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The impressions and visions that she portrays are dreamlike, intended to transport us into her magical, graphical and colourful world, which lies somewhere between abstraction and figuration. While her subject matter is precise, colour, she explains, is always the “driving force” behind her superbly researched artwork. It is through colour that “the painting comes to life . . . and escapes reality,” creating an extremely rich, original and poetic language. We could apply what Joan Miró said of Paul Klee’s art to Annick Zimmermann’s creations: “In any plastic expression there is something more than painting-painting; one must go beyond to reach these areas of deepest emotion.” Her intuitive creation does not seek to convey messages, but to unleash pure emotion in the observer by playing on their imagination.
In her most recent paintings, which she has entitled “Japonisant” (“Japanese-Inspired”), Annick Zimmermann has created nothing short of an alchemy of Synthetism and Japanese art, thanks to a fine balance between concise drawing work and the subjective saturation of her increasingly honed palette. Her artwork is both sensual and spiritual, offering a hypnotising description of a whole inner world. It is a journey of discovery...
Francine BUNEL-MALRAS, Art Historian
