Sometimes, a wrong turn is the right turn. Such was the case at the recent Maison & Objet home furnishings show in Paris last week when our team wandered into the ibride booth (ibride.fr) where a twist on the technique of découpage suddenly looked new and fresh.
Totally oddball subjects, like portraits of human beings with bird heads, or rams dressed in dandy suits, is entirely normal subject matter at ibride, and really looks cool in the right setting. Advancing the art of decorating an object by glueing paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects and gold leaf, ibride uses simple trays as a canvas and paints elaborate portraits of humans who have morphed into creatures, or what the French call faux-semblants (pretending to be something or someone else). Like a Vermeer portrait in which a rabbit’s head, in full ruff collar, replaces a woman’s head. Or the collection of birds dressed to kill in 18th-century ensembles as seen here.
The techniques used to paint and execute these bizarre masterpieces are exquisite. They can be mounted on a wall as a gallery of pictures, or used as conversation pieces at a cocktail party. Either way, the effect is stirring and kooky at the same time.
photograph by John Simoudis