<B>An artist’s will</B>

Oils, prints, acrylics, watercolours, crayons in portraits, landscapes, abstract compositions, striking or mild in tone, there is nothing that this former textile designer who decided to take up an artist’s career seems unable to bring to life.

“Art is the only thing I ever wanted to do and is all I can do.” Showing us around her improvised workshop, Renée van Lille-Demetroudes displays one of her latest realizations, a seven-meter long acrylic, with expressive faces of South-African tribes alternating with local birds. She does not try to impress her audience with any claims to exceptional originality but she knows exactly what she is aiming at and how to achieve it. The evocation of her native country fills the room with a warm, almost physical, atmosphere but no aggressiveness. Purists could perhaps say this is more decoration than art, but frankly who can decide where the frontier lies?

“I come from a family of artists.” Renée was always involved in dance, music or painting during her childhood. Of Afrikaans stock through her father and German origin through her mother, she grew up in a German school in Pretoria, before graduating in textile design and working in Durban. She also taught at Pretoria’s technical college in that field. She must have acquired a huge technical experience and developed enough pragmatism to know how to manage the turning point of her life that would lead her to take her own path.

Renée’s career as an independent artist began some 15 years ago, with a trompe-l’oeil fresco, so vivid that even the photographs of it remain gripping. Since then, she has produced a huge output of very different works, using techniques from watercolours to oils, prints or crayons to bring to life portraits, wall designs, landscapes or modern compositions for offices, restaurants or individuals… All these have been done on order and Renée takes every one of them as a challenge. So this is also a business and she defines herself squarely and without false modesty as a “commercial artist”.

Living on art? Though she is not allowed to work for remuneration in Mauritius, being a diplomat’s wife-the South African High Commission’s third secretary, Johnny Demetroudes-she has some advice for Mauritians who hesitate about accomplishing their inner wish. “Living in a small island can be a blessing. Imagine how difficult it is for an artist to gain recognition in a huge country. Here you have more opportunities on that ground.”

Though Renée does not want “to get stuck on one type of work” and appreciates “art as a multifaceted activity”, she is very determined, full of energy and very sure of her capacities. The above-mentioned evocation of South Africa, owned by British American Insurance, will decorate the High Commission at BAI building, Port-Louis, and she is looking forward to an exhibition at the High Commissioner’s residence in the coming months.