Orphné Achéron is an artist who depicts fantastic ancient scenes and who, unsurprisingly, takes her name from Greek mythology. Acheron, a (real) river in northwest Greece, was said to be one of the rivers (the Styx was another) that flowed to the underworld. Acheron had been a son of Helios, but was transformed into a river as punishment for supporting the Titans in their war against the Olympians. Orphne was a water nymph with whom Acheron fathered Ascalaphus.
And that’s where the mysterious Orphné Achéron is coming from, conceptually: The realm of myths and legends. A selection of her work is currently on display at Haven Gallery, in Northport, NY. We had to know more about these fantastic, incredibly stylish images, and she was happy to shed a little light on her process and ideas. The interview is below this gallery.
To stay updated on Orphné Achéron’s latest work and exhibitions, follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
Can you tell us the artistic process you use? What are the materials and what are the steps from a blank surface to the finished image?
Usually, each of my works is conceived from an overall atmosphere or emotion. Often I make sketches beforehand. I reflect on the composition and I consider how I place some central or secondary elements like characters, decorative motif, plant elements, etc. Then I distribute the balance of black, white or gold areas to know if the final result will be a black, white or gold dominance. The distribution of areas in black India ink or golden gouache or acrylic can be reversed or modified during the creative process. At each stage, I take photos to ensure the good choice of color distribution. Moreover, I also document myself from archives throughout the evolution of the work. Regarding the materials, I mainly use India ink, pencil, graphite, fine point pens such as Micron and Staedtler Mars Matic brand, and gold paint (gouache or acrylique) on Arches 185g paper.
We have seen in a few places that your area of interest is “mythology, antiquity, and the medieval era.” What attracts you to this subject matter?
Indeed, mythology, antiquity and the medieval era are a dense and vast field of artistic exploration, imagination and daydreaming through stories between myths and legends.
Mythology is a real breeding ground for art, through its metaphorical, allegorical and philosophical attractions/dimensions, it is the study and interpretation of the sacred—sometimes—and fabulous—always—tales of a culture through myths dealing with the various aspects of the human condition; the concept of good and evil; the meaning of life and death; cultural values and traditions; and the afterworld. By trying to explain theogony and cosmogony, it tries to find a common meaning and an answer to universal questions. Myth has always been seen as a necessary aspect of the human psyche that must find meaning and order in a world that often presents itself as chaotic and meaningless, according to Carl Gustav Jung.
Thus the vestiges from the past are a symbol-laden trace and abound in secrets, enigmas and mysteries. The ancient world carries within itself observations and questions about the origin of the creation of the universe, the origin of humanity and the place of humans in relation to nature.
In regards to the medieval era, it was a rather troubled and dark time, a rather paradoxical period where art—architecture—tended towards light in constant struggle against darkness. A conquest of one’s spiritual “self” told through distant legends or fabulous stories. Similarly, I am referring to the symbolic and allegorical images that are found in abundance in the alchemical manuscripts of the High Middle Ages or Renaissance illuminations that seem to us extraordinarily confused. They were not intended to inform laymen, but to incite meditation to those who knew the whole theoretical system behind it. At its heart—by the way, alchemy has appeared since antiquity—is the will power to expand the empire of spiritual light.
I like this idea that an image is a subject, a support for meditation or a spiritual journey and accessible to anyone.
Moreover, if I had to choose two emblematic elements in order to synthesize the source of my inspiration, my choice would be mummification (mummy) and armor. Two different ways to preserve the body. One to cover it, protect it and prepare it for the heavenly world, the Afterlife, and the second to cover it, defend it and protect it from the telluric world, from the earthly threat. Finally, by dealing with the relationship between the soul, spiritual body and the earthly body, I try to express this permanent spiritual quest and the questioning of the survival of the soul.
Your recent works tend toward a lot of ancient Egyptian characters and gods, what motivated you to focus on this particular subject?
Indeed, the relationship with nature, the vision of the afterlife and the initiation, funerary and ancestral rites of embalming and mummification characteristic of ancient Egypt have aroused great interest and a real passion for the antiquity and Egyptian mythology for me from a very young age. Besides, universally represented as the oldest civilization of humanity, Egypt is considered the cradle of all the ancient mysteries. The Sphinx, pyramids, mummies, its “Book of the Dead” and its deities with animal heads or bodies, are proof that Egypt embodied a spirituality concealing unsuspected wisdom. Its spiritual vision through its deities, the way of approaching the questions of existence on earth and life in the afterworld, the quest for eternal life and the survival of the soul, the art of adorning its deceased for the afterworld and the ample and splendorous vestiges always turned towards the cult of light, have based on ancient Egypt, the founder of humanity. All these make it an exceptional subject of reveries.
Do you try to tell (or re-tell) stories with your art ? Would you call them narratives, portraits, or some combination?
I draw a lot of inspiration from stories that I have read, films or places that I have visited… Finally, I may try to give a personal interpretation but above all I try to tell stories or fables that are somehow personal to me. I deal with my own quest for spiritual strength and inner peace, which I think is a distinctive feature of my work. Each illustration carries within it a part of shadow and light, illustrating the coexistence of light and darkness. Besides, to be honest, I don’t quite know who the characters I draw are. Undoubtedly, some combination of portraits of different characters who have really existed, fictitious, or dreamed… They are perhaps kinds of chimeras, protective deities, warrior specters, cosmic beings, wandering souls… Finally, the three terms could be used to define my work, but the term “some combination” speaks to me more.
One of our favorite recent pieces is The Picture, which is taken from Oscar Wilde and sits outside your usual area of interest. Can you tell us about that piece? Will you be exploring anything else along the same lines?
Keeping in mind the story of Oscar Wilde and while being in a different approach—that means far from a spiritual approach—I worked on this piece as usual, by documenting the style and the aesthetics of the Victorian era. I wanted to be close to the story and include symbolic elements from all of the author’s work; as the peacock feathers symbolize vanity, the mask represents the double, the dual personality and hypocrisy, red, the color of blood is associated with power, violence, and danger, the poppy flower is in reference to opium as Dorian Gray consumes, and the dark and aging portrait from the painting and the knife on the ground which will be the fatal weapon. Through the composition of The Picture, I wanted to relate a double narration between the central character, the lady dressed in red—meaning vanity and evil—and in the background the aging and almost threatening picture from the painting of the Lady herself. This picture is surrounded by snakes—pants of the red dress turning into snakes—and crows, often presaging bad omens. I had a lot of fun making this piece. It is the only one for the moment for which I have added a fourth color. Also the goal for a more narrative final result for this piece stands out from my other works. I would like to repeat this exercise and explore again new projects like that and perhaps explore recent or historical literary works. It would be a nice challenge.
As we go back through work on your Facebook page, we see a previous style that was more volumetric and striving for what one might call “realism.” Your most recent work is much more two-dimensional, recalling illustrators like Aubrey Beardsley as well as the flat perspective of medieval art or hieroglyphics. Is your style evolving? And is the subject matter leading you in this stylistic direction?
Painting and drawing enthusiast, I have still loved doing portraits. The “realism” was a kind of challenge for me, its practice is very technical. Besides, the portraits with a “realistic” style that I made a few years ago, were the beginning of a new concept and a new way of approaching my creative process. They thus allowed me to develop my own style but also my own mythological tales. Also, the practice of illustration allows me in particular to be more narrative, to express myself in a more stylistic way and to develop a more personal identity. It also allows me to apprehend a particular aesthetic that can make think of Golden Age illustrators such as Harry Clarke, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen or Aubrey Beardsley and many more… In the future perhaps my aspiration will tend to new towards the realism style or the combination realism with a stylized line.
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