Gold Scarab is a drypoint / color monoprint created in 2010 by French born artist Isabelle Proust. It is pencil signed with the artist’s cypher and then dated X immediately beneath the image. It is further annotated in pencil on the verso “Gold Scarab” / Isabelle Proust. Gold Scarab is a unique impression and was printed by the artist on white Arjomari Arches wove paper. The platemark measures 11-5/8 x 15-5/8 inches.
Gold Scarab is a drypoint, an intaglio made unique by layering colors on the plate or touching inks to the surface of the printed image. Proust’s expressive image gives the viewer an intimate close-up of nature at work: an insect gathering pollen from a coneflower. The colors add to the ethereal quality of the image while the gestural strokes of color add movement reminding one that nature is always in control.
Isabelle Proust, photographer, painter, and printmaker, was born in France on April 28, 1963. According to Proust she was "interested in photography since an early age. I started my art career exploring the human expressions of angst in large format black and white prints reworked with different materials… I extended this search investigating the technique of buon fresco. Self-taught in that discipline I worked my way in through trial and error and some luck; “butchering” the proper way of doing frescoes, I am forcing this ancient form of art in a more contemporary style. Layering and distressing the texture are part of keeping the effect of time that passes, the feel of dreamlike longing.” In 2006 Proust began pursuing printmaking, focusing on drypoint and monoprint. Her technique currently explores the merging of the two mediums, in which she inks the final plate with differing ink patterns. This style complements her subject matter, which often references dreams and ancient histories to create layered, delicate imagery. Proust divides her time between France and the United States.
