The Artist behind the Art

Hello !

Good to be a part of this Steemit Community…
For those who don’t know me or for those who are interested in a little more info, I decided to take the plunge and do the artist intro!
I grew up in South East Asia: Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia.
Voila a photo from the early 1970's of my parents with the King of Sukawati in his palace (now the dance hall of Ubud)

Voila a photo of myself (with beads on head) and two of my sisters.

My youngest sister was born in Indonesia. Here's a photo of her in Kashmir India

My family moved to the States when I was 13 and between the culture shock and adolescence, the cocktail was bubbly. It was the 1970's and sex, drugs and rock and roll were BIG.

This meant huge problems at home and my school just threw me out, misfit that i was! I left home at the early age of fourteen. Politics and the environment were the two big focuses of my life. I worked with different groups and eventually started a bilingual newsletter with some friends...

At seventeen, I had a nappy dreaded head, was eating all raw food and yup i became pregnant with my first son: Jariah.

I had a small company at the time called The Glad Hatter making crocheted rasta hats and beaded earrings. I would sell my wares at local markets....

At 21 I decided to go back to school and i got a scholarship at the Art Institute of Chicago. Four years of 1980's punk life and lots of Art! I studied painting , woodworking and book making. The three areas which would later define my career.

Here i am in my Chicago loft , in front of a Reliquary i built for my son's umbilical cord.

After graduating, I taught art and worked for a cabinet maker.
I fell in Love with my husband in 1990 and he literally swept me off my feet

We left the USA en route to France and travelled through Asia for six months -Indonesia, China....crossing through the Taklimakan Desert and up through the Kunjerab pass into Pakistan...then onto Nepal....We ended in France where we married..

My husband Pascal, and I started a furniture design company called MATAHATI. We use only recycled or sustainable materials. We have worked with the same family for almost thirty years creating a lifetime bond. Our furniture was sold around the world and we have made custom pieces for Rock and movie stars amongst others...

We also designed furniture for restaurants and hotels ....

and did the furniture for the London and Croyden AVEDA shops.

My most fabulous "project" with my husband was my son Raphael who was born in 1995.

Meanwile I made dozens of handmade books and of course i painted but i do confess painting was not not top priority at this time of my life. In 2007 I printed my first collaborative book with Jean Brice Viaud. The book was an erotic fairytale and was launched in Paris at the gallery Les Nuits Blanches.

With my children grown up, I started painting seriously again. I started exhibiting again in 2012 and since I have done around 80 exhibits including solos and museum shows.

This image is from a solo show done in December 2017 in St Germain, Paris.

I also started working with different community art groups like Surrealism Now, Otto Rapp's Visionary Art Group and Art of Imagination.

In 2012 I started a group which reunited artists and groups around a theme of heart consciousness. I then made books and exhibits with the material. I curated more than 20 shows for the group and made four books. The last book was The Encyclopedia of Fernal Affairs. It has 120 artists reunited in it and is distributed in 13 countries at independant and museum bookstores.

The group has exhibited in UNESCO heritage sites like this Convent in Toledo:

I have also made strong connections with indigenous groups. We have worked with the Maya in Mexico , the Kogis and other indigenous tribes in Colombia.

I am currently working on a Tarot deck for 2019. This particular project is with only four artists: Carrie Ann Baade, Martina Hoffmann, Michel Bassot and myself. Here is my devil card (which is inthe 2018 NAIA Museum collection in France.

I am also working on bigger group projects which you can discover through my Dreams & Divinities newsletter:
https://mailchi.mp/f01cfeb36784/dreams-divinities-autumn-newsletter?e=[UNIQID]

You can discover my art on my site:
http://www.artwork-liba.com/

And here's the furniture:
https://www.matahati.fr/en/

Looking forward to getting to know you!
Love and Peace,
Liba