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What feelings look like on canvas, with lots of colour
French-Brazilian artist Marjorie Raymond’s solo show, ‘Transference’, reveals not only a mastery of mixed media—but an unflinching devotion to expressing the inexpressible
- PUBLISHED: Tue 20 May 2025, 3:31 PM
- By:
- Asha Iyer Kumar
Meet Marjorie Raymond, artist extraordinaire and a nonpareil of evocative storytelling through paint, whose 25-year creative journey has been shaped by an enduring quest to make sense of filtering her feelings through form. William Wordsworth’s timeless definition of poetry, " a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”, seems just as apt when applied to her works. Her canvases are not merely painted; they are felt and created from the depths of her being.
Swirled into every brushstroke and every layer is a storm of emotions — strong, persistent, floating, and recurring — forming a melange that defines human passion in all its hues. This powerful expression with colours that defy ordinary classification and provides wholesome visual feast is on display at the immersive solo exhibition ‘Transference’ that Raymond is currently running at the Mercedes-Benz Brand Centre in Design District, Dubai from May 7- 31, 2025.
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Every piece that she creates erupts with energy and speaks to you in a dynamic language. The deep meanings they hold within their layers burst forth in a vibrant way not to startle you, but to hold you in a mesmerising spell. Take for instance, Ecstasy II. A 270x200cm masterpiece on canvas that employs paint, rock, charcoal and diamond doesn’t just make yours jaws drop by its size alone. It holds you in awe with the colours portraying each emotion that Raymond went through at the time of creating it distinctly and vividly.
“It signifies an eruption of feelings — where joy, desire, and surrender collide in a moment too powerful to contain. It’s the raw, electric pulse of being fully alive, when emotions overtakes thoughts and the self — melt into pure sensations,” explains Raymond about the magnum opus.
Her paintings don’t just stare back; they reach toward the viewer, stirring tactile and emotional responses. From ecstasy to infatuation, longing to stupor, rapture to grounded calm, each work holds a specific emotional register. One may grip you with the passionate riot of red that symbolises infatuation — complete with hearts delicately embedded within. Another may offer the quiet dignity of beige, portraying a state of serene anchoring and grounding, and yet another may resonate in deep blue with the quiet persistence of longing; of unrequited love; a place never reached and a moment that slipped away.
Raymond says the colours that finally land on her canvas are not chosen with intention; they are spontaneous and random, the initiations emerging at the spur of the moment. Almost as if she has chosen a colour for each emotion that she portrays, the colours on her works are in close alignment with their titles.
When asked what the evocative theme of Transference personally mean to her — and how it manifests in her creative process, Raymod waxes eloquent about her inspirations. “Transference, to me, is the invisible current of emotion, memory, and experience that flow between the self and the work. In my creative process, it is almost instinctual — each gesture, texture, or medium carries an imprint of a lived emotion. It is about channeling inner shifts into something tangible, something viewers can feel without needing explanation.”
The works speak for themselves, their meaning and essence readily apparent. Take for instance the bronze sculptures of human figurines in deep embrace aptly titled “Entwined”. They express the attraction and affection between two souls — be it between two lovers or between a parent and a child or any other humans “bound not just by closeness but by something unspoken and eternal.”
“It’s a quiet intensity,” Raymond elaborates, “where connection becomes their identity and love exists in every curve of presence and absence.”
Raymond’s emotional and artistic vocabulary have been shaped by her journey across Brazil, France and the UAE. Brazil, where she grew up, will always be ‘the emotional heartbeat of her work,” she says. “It gave me warmth, rhythm, and a deep instinct for expression. France brought a sense of structure and refinement — an understanding of form, balance, and how to channel emotion with intention. And being in the UAE for almost two decades has shaped me in profound ways.”
Dubai has been the ground of her evolution — personally and artistically. Surrounded by cultural diversity and the city’s restless spirit of reinvention, she has grown in perspective, purpose, and expression. It remains a constant source of quiet inspiration and creative expansion for her.
A random study of Raymond’s works may suggest autobiographical overtones. So intense are her expressions that their origin unmistakably lies in a personal place which she readily acknowledges. Yet she is quick to assert that they are not just about her. Offering deeper insight into her creative process, she says her works often evolve from a lived experience, a lingering memory, or an emotional imprint. “It is personal, but as I create, something shifts. The piece starts to speak beyond me. I think the more honest and vulnerable I am in the process, the more the work resonates with others.”
It's rare for an artist to so effortlessly fuse individual vision with collective emotion. Raymond taps into feelings we all recognise, giving them an intimate tilt that transforms them into works of universal appeal. In her view, her artistic voice is so distinct, it stands in a realm of its own. There is no competition with others — only expression of herself.
Her art has found its way into some of the most distinguished addresses in the UAE — gracing royal residences, adorning the opulent interiors of the Bvlgari Residences and the Royal Atlantis, and lending its emotional gravitas to the Al Habtoor offices and Nammos Beach Club. Beyond the private sphere, her presence is steadily growing in public and government spaces. Her pieces do not merely decorate the walls. They inhabit the space, becoming part of its rhythm and resonance, quietly affirming her place as one of the region’s most compelling creative voices.
She uses unconventional materials — sand, rock, diamond dust — not for their aesthetic novelty, but because they allow her to articulate emotion through texture, light, and form. The tactility these elements offer magnifies the viewer’s sensory experience, lending her works a presence that is not just visual, but almost physical.
When we grow curious about the diamond dust she uses in her work, she chuckles and clarifies: it’s actually glass sourced from the US, not real diamonds. “Otherwise the price would be at a totally different level,” she says, laughing.
Her pieces are intricate and time-intensive, often taking anywhere between three to six weeks to complete, depending on their size. Each little stone, every piece of charcoal, each fleck of glass is placed with mindful intention. She sometimes uses needle-fine brushes to ensure that every dot of colour lands exactly where it must. “It’s not just a ‘splash-splash’ painting style,” she quips, half in jest, but wholly sincere.
What makes many of Raymond’s works stand apart is the convergence of multiple emotions within a single piece. They are not painted in a homogeneous palette of feelings. Instead, her canvases hold contradictions, harmonies, and tensions that mirror the inner complexity of human experience. “Sometimes one emotion is more dominant,” she clarifies, “but often it’s the contrast between feelings that makes the work come alive. It’s never just one note. It’s a full emotional spectrum.”
What begins as spots and speckles in Raymond’s canvas transform into larger than life illustrations of the highs, lows and calm tenors of human existence. The metaphors are expansive and detailed. They go beyond expectations of applause and accolades from the viewers specifically because she creates not for them, but for herself. She acknowledges that there is an unspoken dialogue between artist and audience. Her deep awareness of the fact that her work will eventually live beyond her makes her a timeless artist whose creative imprints enhance the grandeur of some of the most prestigious spaces in the region.
“It’s incredibly humbling. I create from such an intimate space — often alone, but always emotionally connected. So to see that work living in major institutions or collections is surreal in the best way. It means the emotions translated. That something so personal could connect so widely is a powerful reminder of why I do what I do. It tells me that vulnerability has value, and that emotion speaks across boundaries.”
For someone to whom art is not only a means of expression but the very raison d'être of her life, each creation is a form of emotional transference — a dialogue not just between brush and canvas, but between her soul and world. In Marjorie Raymond’s hands, raw material becomes metaphor, and she conveys her inner landscape with fearless honesty. As her works continue to find homes in revered spaces and private sanctuaries, they serve as quiet messengers of her truth: that when art is made from a place of sincerity, it transcends time, place, and even the artist herself. What she leaves behind is not just colour and form — but feeling, suspended in permanence.