Mer Interieure 

Dominique Appia painted “Mer Interieure” with oils, a medium prized for its capacity to capture light, texture, and minute detail. Oil paint is made from powdered pigments bound with linseed or walnut oil, and its history reaches back to the early Middle Ages. Here, the application of thin glazes builds up luminous, almost photographic realism. The artist takes pains to represent a paneled door, striped wallpaper, and parquet flooring – all elements of bourgeois life. Yet these conventional markers of social standing abut something less tangible: a marine dreamscape populated by sharks, sturgeon, and other sea creatures. What are we to make of this surprising juxtaposition? Perhaps Appia is commenting on the relationship between the controlled order of domestic life, and the vast, unknowable depths of the natural world. Or, that painting itself is a portal into another world. The image reminds us that the most familiar materials, in the hands of a skilled artist, can transport us to unexpected places.