At Samaritaine, surrealist artist Lise Stoufflet is exhibiting two pieces of artwork that simultaneously illustrate an interplay of gazes and raise questions about society. Striking a balance between fantasy and free interpretation, Stoufflet discusses the source of her inspiration, which aligns perfectly with our "Paris Trompe-l'Oeil" theme all about illusions and visual trickery.

Tell us about your artistic career.

I graduated from the Beaux-Arts de Paris art school, and since 2014, I've mainly been working on paintings for exhibition spaces, as well as dabbling in ceramics. I don't come from a family of artists, but they were certainly interested in art — we had books on surrealism at home. It's a language that really speaks to me. I feel very connected to this idea of tapping into the subconscious and seeing several layers of the psyche emerge. I've always been attuned to this kind of playfulness.

How does your work relate to this movement?

I start by sketching out my ideas as a form of research, and then I see where it leads me afterward. Within my work, I try to expand the scope of possibilities. There are always numerous levels of interpretation. I like that people can see themselves in my paintings, as well as the fact that they question reality and elicit an immediate emotional response, even if the message remains open to interpretation.

What do you hope to convey through your artwork?

I'm especially curious to see how people interpret my work in their own way and whether it poses obvious questions that I haven't actually considered myself. I have a naive side in that if I were to rationalize the messages, it would mean my work would be more constrained, and the control I'd have would actually stifle my creativity.

What does Samaritaine mean to you?

In my mind, I still recall the iconic store from days gone by. There's a special dynamic and an importance attached to the décor and the atmosphere. Samaritaine evokes an impression of grandeur, symbolic of modern architecture.

Can you tell us about your two pieces of artwork for our "Paris Trompe-l'Oeil" theme?

I came across some placards that featured eyes in a protest and found they were really powerful in conveying the notion of being observed via social media and security systems. I'm really fascinated by the concept of the audience being under the gaze of a myriad of eyes, as if the artwork's doing the scrutinizing rather than the other way around. The second painting evokes a penetrating gaze through the depiction of two figures positioned face to face, both trying to look inside of one another. Who's inside? Who's outside? Who's to scale? This elicits a surrealist interplay between reality and size.

The eye and the cloud are important symbols this season. What do they represent for you?

The eye makes me think of clairvoyance and esotericism — themes that inspire me. When it comes to clouds, anything and everything can be projected onto them: pareidolia, onirism, etc. Again, this is all linked to surrealism and automatic writing. With clouds, you can let your imagination run wild and conjure up images in your mind using shifting media.

We use artificial intelligence to create our animations. What are your thoughts on this medium?

AI tools aren't widely available enough yet for us to be able to use them intuitively, but we'll have to learn to navigate them for sure. In the same way that I use Photoshop to work on my colors, AI will soon become mainstream. I just hope that the style unique to each artist always remains distinctive!