Inspired by transcendental states, Marie d’Elbée explores states of ecstasy, metamorphosis and transfiguration in relation to nature. She researches entrance points to infinite space. Moments of transformation between states. Where matter collapses and all bodies dissolve into one.

Her work presents indistinct and primal spaces which are simultaneously a totality or a fragment, infinitely large or small. She cultivates states of confusion with regards to time, space and identity, dissolving boundaries between subject and environment. She delves into ideas of undifferentiated states and universal connectedness, shifting fixed notions of self and matter.

Born in France in 1983, Marie d’Elbée’s work draws from early sensations of being at one with the natural world. As a child, she lives in California where she meets Michel Serres whose nonhuman-centric views and reciprocal relationship to nature strengthen her intuition. Increasingly entangled within animals and the natural world, she becomes fascinated with ideas of transcendence, transfiguration and extasis, and drawn towards the point of transformation between states where everything becomes one. From her early teens, she is mentored by Raymond Saunders and travels throughout Europe to study classical painting. She becomes captivated by the Italian Renaissance, particularly in relation to the representation of infinite spaces and the incommensurability of the divine. After a Masters in Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins, she starts painting her first expanding landscape series and writing for contemporary art magazines. She later creates Open Source, an organisation for social art practices built in relation to their environment. Marie d’Elbée is now pursuing her long-standing exploration of nature and infinite spaces through environments which expand and contract.

Selected exhibitions

2023: Extasis – Khimaira, Terpsichoris, Athens, GREECE
2022: Iridescence – Alkinois, Athens, GREECE
2020: Leviathan – Nuit des Idees: Ritual DJ set (Eva Tsakni), Institut Français, Athens, GREECE
2019: Entre chien et loup – Atlas IV – Art Barter, C-Type Print, Alkinois, Athens, GREECE
2019: And the moon (…) – music composition and film installation, Mother Mercury, Art Night, London, UK
2018: Entre chien et loup – music performance, light and sound installation, Atlas, Brussels, BELGIUM
2018: Constellations – art direction, sound and image, performance, Théâtre de Fontainebleau, FRANCE
2017: The Third Body – performance and installation, MALBA Museo, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
2017: First Contact – interactive installation and music performance, Art Night, SPACE Studios, London, UK
2017: The Third Body – performance and installation, Sucre, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
2017: Animal Behaviours – art and sound direction, 32 performers, Sucre, Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
2017: The Third Body – music performance, La Poudriere, Brussels, BELGIUM
2015: FOAM – 12″ vinyl, installation, touring exhibition (Project/Number, Wysing Arts Centre, AND/OR, One Thoresby Street), UK
2015: Deep Space – sound composition and film, public installation, Open Source Festival, Gillett Square, London, UK
2014: Project LALO – painting, Control Room Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2014: Edge of Human – text installation, Los Angeles 2019, French Riviera, London, UK
2014: Wearing Potentiality – text commission, Paradise Row, London, UK

2014: Cosmic Socks – unique commissions – ambassadors and venues below:
Gareth Bell-Jones, Annals of the 29th Century, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, UK
Christopher Rawcliffe, P/N/16: Project Number, London, UK
Grant Vetter, Project LALO, Autonomie Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Rebecca Lewin, Martino Gamper, Design is a state of mind, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London, UK
Emily Butler, Continuum of Repair: The Light of Jacob’s Ladder, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Simon Baker, Martin Parr, Tate Modern, London, UK
Romain Chenais, PRO CHOICE – Sabine Reitmaier, Shanaynay Gallery, Paris, FRANCE
Anna Gritz, Last Seen Entering the Biltmore, South London Gallery, London, UK
Beatriz Olabarrieta, Shifty Show, Cell Project Space, London, UK
Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, One Thoresby Street, The Attic, Nottingham, UK
Anna Barham, Frieze Art Fair, Arcade Gallery, London, UK

2013: Me eyes still – painting, P/N/15, Project/Number, London, UK
2013: Dog Watching Sunset – painting, UK touring show (Tannery Arts, Drawing Room, London; The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth; Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge; Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow; Central Art Gallery, Tameside)
2012: BB#8: Dawdle – collaborative art piece, SPACE Studios, London, UK
2012: London Open – Barbican Arts Group Trust, London, UK

Other projects include Abnorm