La Vie en Couleurs: Cathy Tabbakh

Tabbakh’s artistic vision is a fusion of fantasy and reality colliding through the use of architectural and botanical forms. Having developed her practice in her home studio, interiors and still life were a natural choice of subject. Tabbakh found beauty in the intimacy of domestic space, and as the world reopened, she continued to share this intimacy with people through her work.

Tabbakh’s works are instantly recognisable through their repeated motifs. Broad-leafed monsteras rise from bulbous vases. Flowers delicately bloom. Light streams through open doorways, casting shadows across walls.

In ‘La Vie en Couleurs’, Tabbakh has developed her instantly recognisable style, experimenting with single coloured works. Using different tones of the same ‘hero’ colour for each piece, she leans into the surrealist nature of her works. Each piece becomes an exploration of the colour itself, intensifying the emotional experience of the everyday imagery. A vase on a table depicted in tones of blue appears peaceful and sombre, whereas its sharp green counterpart appears energetic and lively. The simplifying of the colour palette of each piece also appears to allow more space between the elements of the composition. Tabbakh showcases her skill in depicting shape and shadow with only a few shifts in tone, turning a flat surface into the illusion of a 3D. space through a simple series of shapes.

She has also chosen to complete the series entirely on canvas rather than paper, a move which she chose to emphasise the flatness of the surface of the work. Sharp and clean, her work allows little room for error, relying on the emphasis of 2D forms.

For the first time, we see Tabbakh’s full series of works displayed together, and in doing so allow the artist room to explore her practice and develop her unique style and the viewer to enter her colourful world.

Since turning her attention to her artistic practice full time in 2020, Tabbakh's work have exhibited internationally, and have been added to many collections, including Soho House Brighton, High Road London,  and Paris.