Paris France
2020 / 2021 /2022
Our friendship with Virginie Houdet is relatively new, but it runs deep, as if she has always been part of our family. Virginie is an artist to the core and she naturally inherited this midset from a family that continues to cultivate a special kind of attention to art, in its freest forms of expression. Virginie's work is timeless as she plays with different media, treating them with uncommon lightness, as she experiences moments of irony and amazement. Ever-changing, she will add and subtract different elements to her art, based on the whims of the moment. Inevitably, she returns to nature, with its healing properties, which both amaze and calm her.
Virginie was in residence at Il Palmerino in the midst of the pandemic lockdown which played a huge part in consolidating the close ties we immediately felt. The emotional moments spent together were characterised by a feeling of complicity and the interpersonal bonds we formed united all of our residents, colouring each artists' creative experience of the place. With Virginie, we found art-related ways to exorcise tensions and relieve fears, by taking a provocative and amused look at the fragility of our lives, that was nonetheless intense and reflective.
In her own words:
"Birds, flowers, trees, people are all in harmony at Villa Il Palmerino, a place where you can be alone without feeling lonely. Openness, fun, work, kindness, no judgment and a spirit of wonder make this place very inspiring. I love it!"