Born and raised in Armentieres in the North of France, Charlotte Vanhaecke aka Chalavie is a multi genre artist based in Los Angeles who loves to experiment and challenge herself. Inspired by life, her work is an exploration of different styles and techniques.
About my artistic approach:
On my artistic journey which started as a child, I explore different themes and traditional mediums. Inspired by the human condition and guided by my curious nature, I don’t really follow any rules except the ones I give myself instinctively. They may differ from one series to another and from one painting to another depending on my intention. When I paint I have a frenetic sense of urgency to lay down my ideas this is why I like the spontaneity of acrylic medium.
In 2018, I started painting moments of life between people or oneself. I focused on detailed characters and isolated them from their context by specifically placing them on top of suggestive, desaturated and soothing background shapes. My goal was to capture the timeless and spaceless feeling of a moment that links one with him/herself, one to another, and with the viewer with him/herself leaving space for nostalgia and self wonder. First Inspired by old family photos found in a trunk at my grand parent’s house, the series quickly evolves into looking at people in today’s world and places that caught my attention during my morning walks.
Here started my curiosity for architectural matters. From depicting timeless moments between humans who are constantly evolving, my interest grew into painting moments of time within a place constantly metamorphosing: “ the city”.
My most recent body of work (2020- 2021) reflects on the city and its perspectives in all meanings. It observes our modern society, the “uncomfortability” of change and transformation, the fascinating orchestra of the process of building, the housing crisis, the space between the old and the new, through paintings of paradoxical cityscapes considered eyesores to most. They depict buildings demolished by time or bulldozers, construction’s sites and encampments. To emphasize the observation of the given moment or the purpose of the piece I choose to use texture, the flatness of solid shapes, intricacy, isolation, certain color tones, shapes and composition or all of them at the same time leaving the viewer to contemplate and reflect on this “cityspective”.