WELCOME!
This is MV ART+DESIGN.
My name is Marianne Vila, I am a French & Finnish artist and designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2015.
I specialize in figurative painting and interior design.
ABOUT ME
Hi! My name is Marianne Vila, I am an artist and I am passionate about portrait painting .
I am originally from France and Finland and I have lived in several countries before settling in Northern California with my family eight years ago. The diverse cultures, languages and beliefs that I have witnessed through my travels are all crucial influences in my creations.
I hold a Postgraduate Degree in Spanish Literature & Languages and an MBA in General Management from Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris, France). I worked as a Spanish Literature Professor for many years in France before moving to business innovation education in the Bay Area. I now dedicate a large part of my time to professional painting and interior design.
MY JOURNEY TO ART
Painting has run in my family for generations, mainly fueled by my paternal grandmother, painter in the blooming Parisian art scene of the 1940s. For her, art intrinsically permeated every aspect of life and, through her keen eye, any trivial scenery could reveal its artistic intensity. Easels and brushes were indispensable objects during our family hikes and they would help her capture the beauty of an instant beyond the ordinary. She told emotions, not only with words but with shapes and colors.
Fernande Irissou (1906-1998), my grandmother, and a few of her paintings
Thanks to her, I developed an artistic eye and a passion for aesthetics and design from a very young age, drawing, discovering shapes and textures, building and creating out of any material I could lay my hands onto.Despite my keen interest in Fine Arts and Design, I went on to study Spanish Literature & Languages first, Business later on, and worked at the intersection of education and business innovation for many years.
Despite being relegated to the background for years, art remained a strong passion which I infallibly nurtured until 2021 when I decided to quit my job and probe my creative aspirations full-time with my husband's support.
2022 was a year of intense self-exploration that I spent developing an artistic voice, producing a corpus and increasing design experiences and knowledge.
Since the end of 2022 when I received my first painting commission, my work can be seen in private art collections locally and in France. I have also worked on design projects around the Bay.
Identity (The right photo shows it unfinished), Mixed media, 24"x18", 2022. This portrait interrogates who we are and aims at presenting the dichotomy between inner life and appearances, the struggle with gender-related stereotypes (eradicated here by an androgynous face), the doubts that occupy our frequently shattered minds despite our strong capability of taking "matters in our own hands" and remediating them through self-reflection.
MY CREATIVE ENDEAVORS
My paintings are defined by an acute interest in women's identity, the depiction of the human soul in portraits, bold manipulations of colors, maximalist patterns and eclectic media.
In interior design, my work finds its inspiration in my multicultural experiences: my French and Finnish roots make me naturally draw from both the sophistication and tradition of French style and the natural, sculptural minimalism of Scandinavia. To that I can add colorful touches and different textures reminiscent of my travels to Latin America or Africa in order to build an eclectic yet coherent interior.
That very diverse palette of influences enables me to adapt to a large spectrum of styles but always with the same motivation of creating a space that draws its beauty from balanced aesthetics with hints of unexpectedness, just like in a well-composed painting.
