In a secret dance, the emotion awakes the fire which burns inside, as powerful as a silent cry.

Inside? Outside? Difficult to say. When one looks at a canvas of Helene Duclos, one is seized by vertigo. Her characters, silhouettes suggested and yet so present, waver at the point where, for the tightrope walker, balance is lost - or is found. In the softness of the grey, the eye is attracted irresistibly by the glare of the red lip or the spark of an occult fire. Attracted in this suspended movement, the glance becomes associated and seals the mystery of a secret bond which links it with the canvas: one feels invited to a celebration, actor of a magic ritual or spectator of a forgotten ceremony, like a paleontologist, witness of prehistoric scenes registered on the walls of a cave. From one canvas to another, one is taken in a swirl, charmed by the frenzy of this dance on canvas...

This body expression, so strong that it can sometimes evoke a form of exorcism, is not the fruit of chance. It is anchored in the spiritual search which animates Helene Duclos. Wether it is incarnated in the human being or the animal, wether it is that of a redemption or a fall, this search is never ending and concretizes itself in an abundant diversity. In fact, the subject in itself is not so important: the thought would be nothing without the language. Without the expression of painting, what would the body be?

For Helene Duclos, there is no "first intention" in her search for a composition. Even if she recognizes a certain frenzy, a compulsive manner to work without slackening, she always works with a "controlled mark", but in a total engagement: "I do not like to cheat", she says. Thus, she starts several paintings at the same time so that her energy circulates from one to another. She says with humility, "when I start, I let it come. The material enables me to reflect, to think my character, my figure ". But Helene Duclos is not satisfied to work out a simple scenography. Trustful in the sincerity of her instinct, she who refuses "to work in the urgency" lets mature each work in her spirit before returning to it in order to refine its composition, including these "points of attachment" that will allow the regard to circulate on the canvas. Helene Duclos needs this coupling , which gives direction to her work and will bring a new life into her painting.

Because at the precise moment where the regard is posed on the canvas, one enters a dance which joins again with unmemorable times, when gods and demigods made the world resound under their terrible bursts of laughter.

Molly Mine