Artist Reception with Ophelia Cornet
Ophelia Cornet was born in Belgium to a family of artists and designers. For the last 30 years, she has made her home in New Mexico. Ophelia’s lifelong passion for photography and oil painting has developed into a distinctive style pairing the two mediums, a technique she calls Fotura (fotografia y pintura).
This multi-step process involves posing and photographing subjects; printing, cutting, and assembling images; and applying layers of plaster and paint to actualize the vision. In moving from real images to surreal compositions, this work suggests our innate ability to transmute the mundane into something alive and inspired.
This sense of alchemy is a common thread throughout Ophelia’s work. Rather than identifying with our bodies and accomplishments, we can enjoy an intimate and expansive reconnection with the present moment. While anyone can relate to this message, Ophelia is particularly interested in women’s experiences and relationships with themselves. Her compositions often fête female protagonists in snapshots of an intimate otherworldliness.
