1. 86 AVENTURA MAGAZINE
ARTIST BÉNÉDICTE BLANC-FONTENILLE’S UNIQUE,
WATERBORNE CREATIONS BESPEAK A MESSAGE OF
PEACE WHILE MESMERIZING WITH THEIR BEAUTY.
By Michelle Payer
InspirationFrench
3. 88 AVENTURA MAGAZINE
artist Bénédicte Blanc-Fontenillegrew up wondering if she was truly part of the family into which she was born. After all, they
lived in a spectacular castle designed by the architect who created Paris’s famous Sacré-Coeur
(the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris). There were records of the family, part of France’s royal
“noblesse de empire” in the 1800s, entertaining dukes, duchesses, lords and ladies; but a year before
Bénédicte was born, a family member signed away the castle. All that was left were memories,
photos, and a profound sense of loss, vulnerability and fragility that would become the foundation
of Bénédicte’s work as an artist.
“As a child, I created costumes,” says Bénédicte,“writing notes and invitations as part of my delir-
ium, to hold teas for visiting royalty.There was a sadness of something lost,” she sais.“But I grew
up by the sea in Brittany and loved the water, its beauty and ever-changing nature, and through it I
understood the cycle of life.The waves became a metaphor that something may disappear even if
you work hard to hold onto it. Like a wave, you go down, then come up again,” she says.
By age nine, Bénédicte was lost in drawing paper for hours, copying paintings from the dic-
tionary. At 17, she applied to the famed École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Rennes,
France, though she had never formally studied the craft about which she was so passionate.
She was accepted (“I was shocked!” she says) and studied both visual and dramatic art, as
the two schools were side-by-side in the same ancient cloister.
Her mother felt there were too many struggling artists in the world; thus, Bénédicte began
her career in television production, then dabbled in comedic theater (she is currently a player
in French Theater at FIU); however, the siren song of visual art beckoned and she returned to it
while still in her 20s.
French
PHOTO:CarlosHidalgo
TOP TO BOTTOM: Blanc-Fontenille
with her Floating Horizontals;
White Personnage in plaster;
Horizontal Floating print on
aluminum; approximately 20
inches in diameter.
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Now, glamorous and athletically slim befitting a noble descendant, Bénédicte
looks at everything around her with an artist’s mind and philosophy of life and
its fragility. It is how she creates her varied art, some of which is inspired by
17th
-century still-life paintings (“an orange on the table is precariously close to
the edge, to falling off; a metaphor for life”), poet Victor Hugo (“He was a great
artist and worked with ink, coffee and tea”), and Claude Monet, whose water
lilies at Paris’s Musée Marmottan Monet inspired her foray into creating and
perfecting “Floating Horizontals,” water lilies that float, dive and undulate upon
the water.They resemble stingrays in their movement and are so mesmerizing
that a recent reception at Miami’s Vagabond hotel found people in poolside
chaise lounges gazing at them for hours, unfazed by the party around them.
“There is a symbolism of the floating horizontal water lilies,” says Bénédicte.
“Peace, peace, peace.”
Bénédicte began the floating experiment in 2012 using Plexiglass, which
was too rigid for her liking. It took the next three years to find the right paper,
fabric, pigments and waxes for the malleable water lilies that have become pool
art for global collectors.“For me, water is movement; water is life,” she says.
“Everything works together in this harmonious balance of strength and fragility.
It appears to me as an energy, an engine that propels the human being and gen-
erates movement, for life
is nothing but movement.”
The Plexiglass lilies,
which Bénédicte pho-
tographs underwater,
morphed into 12”x12” aluminum wall art sequences, represented by
global galleries (Gauchet Fine Art in Miami, Beddington Fine Art in
France and LUV Contemporary Art in South Korea).“You can create
movement in an installation,” explains Bénédicte.“It is completely
abstract, and again, fragile. Aluminum brings brightness to the
piece, while water brings transparency.”
Bénédicte’s life is seen through art, and vice versa. Her vision
extends to sculpture, including White Personage, 12-inch plaster
people, all of whom are unique in their stride or pose as if reach-
ing for something elusive and can be perched upon wall corners,
shelves and ledges via magnets.“It signifies people in movement,”
says the artist,“as nothing you do ever exists the same way again.”
Her mixed-media paintings utilize wax, paper, oxidized bronze,
ashes from different types of wood, and coffee grounds for texture.
For Bénédicte, it’s the idea of rebirth; everything once thought per-
ishable is given new life. Rocks from the ground become sculptures
that fascinate visitors to her house, who are drawn to them like
their primitive ancestors once were.“It is a symbol of humanity,”
explains Bénédicte.“It comes from the earth. One day, people began
to take one, then another and another to build elevation. It is sym-
bolic of what we do: try to go higher and higher to elevate ourselves;
{ }“For me, water is movement; water is life, everything
works together in this harmonious balance of strength
and fragility. It appears to me as an energy, an
engine that propels the human being and generates
movement, for life is nothing but movement.”
LEFT: L’homme volant (The Flying
Man), an homage to the artist’s
ancestor, the General Resnier de
Goué; 36x48 inches, mixed media.
ABOVE: Floating Rock; 24x48
inches, bronze powder, ashes,
pigment, coffee, acrylic.
5. 92 AVENTURA MAGAZINE
go further in life or architecture, even though one day
nature may try to take it…or us…down.”
A series of paintings show subtle white personages
in the corners and a moth or butterfly in the shadows.
But Bénédicte smiles. Everything has a story and they
are not insects at all, but an ancestor who had a pas-
sion for flying. In 1801, General Resnier de Goué built
the first flying contraption that resembled wings and
launched himself off the walls of Angouleme, over
the Charente river and flew nearly three lengths of a football field to land with a mere broken leg. He was 72.Today he is
known as the first flying man, and is honored with a model at the Musée de l’air du Bourget near Paris.
Galleries representing Bénédicte’s work only carry her aluminum Floating Horizontal installations for now. As such,
collectors can call ahead and visit her studio on Key Biscayne, or purchase her Floating-Horizontals-on-silk through
beautiful limited-edition scarves on http://shopvida.com/collections/benedicte-blanc-fontenille (made by women in India).
In addition to exhibiting at Gauchet gallery during Art Basel, Bénédicte stages multiple installations during the year, and
collaborates with choreographers to combine dance in water—with the Floating Horizontals, of course.
Currently in the throes of hosting an interactive art program on the new Bonjour America TV, Bénédicte’s dream is to
stage an exhibition in a clear container (think
large-scale aquarium) on the plaza of an art
museum, in the bright South Florida sunlight,
with swimmers and Floating Horizontals
breaking the water and diving down again,
seeing art in movement and representing new
life underwater. She would be delighted to find
a collaborator.
For now, you might see the lithe artist in
the waters off Key Biscayne, navigating her
paddleboard and tossing Floating Horizontals
into the ocean, at one with nature while gentle
waves carry her art as a symbol of peace.
To visit artist Bénédicte Blanc-Fontenille’s
Key Biscayne studio, ring her at 305.299.8022
or email her at benbfkb@gmail.com.
TOP TO BOTTOM: Floating art wall (installation of 24
photos of Floating Horizontals, each one 12x12 inches);
Underwater 4, 20x16 inches, in bronze powder, rust,
pigments, acrylic medium; Floating Horizontals in a
pool, each approximately 19x18 inches.
