Lady with Unicorn, 1997
Oil on Canvas
35” x 26”
Born romance, charm, beauty, and danger of Belle Époque, France, in Romania and living in Paris, artist Rody paints the with both precision and sensitivity. Children, lovers, violent men, and vivacious women populate her works that are rendered in the muted sepia tones associated with antique photographs. Bright pops of vibrant red punctuate these otherwise subdued compositions that depict life in the iconic city as a whimsical adventure. Like beautiful images from a sentimental postcard, Rody’s paintings fuse everyday experience, culture, and history to create a nostalgic but timeless vision of France at the turn of the century.
Though sometimes drawing in ink or pencil, Rody primarily employs the traditional process of oil on canvas to create her dreamy scenes. The artist layers tones and textures to render Parisian landmarks with tenderness and care. Indeed, sites such as the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre populate her paintings and are the landscape around which various excitements unfold. The artist develops narratives around her depictions of brawling men and embracing lovers, who bring the quaint streets of Paris to life with their innocence, elegance, and poetic undertones.