Welcome to the surreal world of Marie Cecile Thijs. Portraits of animals and food, they bear her specific signature. Stillness is key.
Her work is influenced by the 17th century Old Masters however her personal interpretation is contemporary. Thijs plays with her subjects by bringing them to life unexpectedly, or – on the contrary – freezing them in time and space. Objects become characters. They move away from their daily destination, assuming a completely new personality. This provides intriguing creations, where tranquility, motion and sometimes also humor meet. In the works of Marie Cecile Thijs the unusual is usual. She is specialized in staged photography, and created series like White Collar and Food Portraits.
Her Food Portraits, contemporary still lifes with a strong surreal element, were first published in the Financieele Dagblad in 2012 to wide acclaim. This innovative series has since been included in multiple museum exhibitions. For this series Marie Cecile Thijs approaches the subject without any existing assumptions, resulting in unexpected and wondrous connections.
She primarily works in series. Important series such as White Collar and the aforementioned Food Portraits present an insight in the compositional finesse of the artist. In combination with the contrast in the use of light and dark in her work, the result is a surrealist imagery.
Marie Cecile Thijs is not represented by my gallery. The works on sale are from a private collection.