Mireille Gros, Fictional Plants 1, Watercolor on paper, 30 x 20 cm. 11 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.
The work of Mireille Gros echoes an ideology that places plants at the center of life on earth rather than as its embellishment. Gros does not attempt to document, catalog, or reproduce nature. Instead, she works adjacent to the plant world, drawing inspiration from its diversity and complexities.
"I don't work after nature; I like to work with nature - making the (plant) life intelligible through lines and colors."
Touched and dismayed by witnessing the rapidly disappearing biodiversity of the virgin rainforest in the Taï National Park in West Africa, Mireille Gros began drawing and painting plant species from her imagination. "Every day a species disappears - every day I invent a new one." Through her long-running Fictional Plant Diversity Project, which began in 1993, Gros has created an entire taxonomy of invented plant life.
Gros lives and works between Basel and Paris. She has held local and international solo exhibitions since 1990, including the recent Kabinettausstellung at Kunstmuseum Basel. Her work is housed in private and public collections worldwide, including La Chalcographie du Louvre (Paris), Helvetia Art Collection (Basel), and Fonds d'art Contemporain (Paris). Gros has received numerous awards and held residencies in China, Mali, and Bulgaria.