Sylvie Riou Marillaud is a French artist who has
been making a name for herself over the past 20
years. Her artwork is truly unique, unlike anything
you have seen before, filled with finesse and inner
beauty. It will leave you in awe.
Born in Poitiers in 1974, she left her hometown at
the age of 16 and moved to a small French island
L’ȋle d’Oléron on the Atlantic seaboard to complete
her baccalaureate in art studies.
In 1995, Sylvie was accepted at the Beaux-Arts in Nantes and studied at La Sorbonne in Paris to
obtain her degrees in Art Studies. To complete her training, she also completed an upholstery course
learning to work with textiles to better understand textures and add a tactile element to her art.
Nonetheless, her true passion has always been painting. While studying, she exhibited in various up-
and-coming art exhibitions such as the Alain Le Bras Gallery in Nantes and the Contemporary Art
Centre in Toulouse.
Sylvie started teaching art in schools in 2000 and, in 2009, she used her entrepreneurial and graphic
designer skills to create a very successful clothing and accessories brand called La Coti to honour the
adoptive island that gave her so much inspiration over the years.
But, in 2018, Sylvie yearned for more creativity in her life and work, so she sold her brand and
returned to her paint brushes full-time.
Throughout all these years of studying, teaching and running a company, Sylvie persisted with her
personal research that has led her to create the unique technique she currently uses and confidently
places her, without doubt, on the contemporary art scene.
In Sylvie’s words
My work and unique technique
Firstly, I photograph the rich outdoor environment on the island, then I digitally rework the picture and
partially transfer it onto wood. The pigmentation of the image becomes naturally embedded in the
grains of the wood so thus starts my initial process to create the artwork.
After that, I work on the wood, applying various painting techniques I have developed over the years
making my art truly unique. Once completed, the final image becomes a ‘mille-feuille’ of artistic
techniques that blends the photo into the painting… or the painting into the photo perhaps? The
gender of the medium doesn’t exist anymore.
Why this black stripe?
The black stripe that is regularly featured on the base of my artwork is directly influenced by the
architecture of the houses on the island. Typically, facades of the houses on L’ȋle d’Oléron are painted
white, and have a black stripe painted with tar at the bottom of the walls to protect from humidity. The
brightness of the sun on the island lands on these black and white walls and awakens the intensity of
all the surrounding colours, sending them into an exploding brightness. This retinal experience
influences the way I compose my work.
