Aude Herlédan “Figuration Abstraite” 2026 , Part of the “ Between Two Dreams” Series,
mixed media on canvas, wood frame.
“Figurative abstractions”, such is the name that Aude Herlédan has given her works, through which she aims to synthesise her ideas, forms and materials.
As a sculptor and painter, Aude Herlédan employs mixed media in her works, working with lacquer and even 24-carat gold leaf. In her painting “Between” which she composed in 2017, she creates flat areas of colour by applying pieces of copper and 24-carat gold leaf which give the piece an understated preciosity. As in her monochrome artworks, Aude is concerned with the material itself, whether it be translating the artistic movement or building a symbolic language. Here, the use of copper and gold evoke alchemical transformations just as it evokes the tradition of Byzantine icons or medieval altarpieces where the golden backgrounds mark the spiritual dimension of the image.
Biography
Born in Paris in 1966 and raised in Kinshasa, Congo, Aude Herlédan has travelled from countries to continents all her life. She holds a degree in graphic arts from the École Estienne in Paris and is a prizewinner at the Parsons School in New York. She studied drawing and painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and art history at the École du Louvre. She also lived in an artists’ community in Recife, Brazil, led artistic missions for the United Nations in Nairobi, Kenya, before embarking on a career as creative director in an advertising agency, while developing her artistic practice. She has been an internationally acclaimed painter and sculptor for some twenty years.
The artist’s memories of her travels have been experiences of deep emotion and self-discovery. In her monograph “Encounters”, she writes that she “paints to make white visible in all that it is: a color full of reliefs and reflections”. This is how she came to create her singular “white matter”, which she developed with a Parisian manufacturer, whose recipe she secretly keeps.
In her work, this white material appears both generous and voluptuous, sculptural and painterly; these combined qualities enable an interaction with light and shadow that brings out all the potential expressions of color. Aude Herlédan uses white matter in lyrical gestures that rise powerfully from her canvases, fully enveloping the viewer in their emotional topographies.
Aude Herlédan currently lives between Paris and Sologne, where she has her studios. She is represented by nine international galleries, in Europe and the US. Her work is also presented at major international art fairs such as Art Paris, BRAFA, Moderne Art Fair, Salon du Dessin, Fine Art – Biennale Paris, and TEFAF, and in numerous private and public collections.
