Quest Gallery

Astrid de la Forest graduated from a well-known Paris art school: ESAG. Her career began in the field of theatre as an assistant to the famous decorator Richard Peduzzi. With him she worked on a number of theatre creations and also contributed to the decoration of the « Musée d'Orsay Â» in Paris.

A trip to New York in 1988 brought her the passion of sketching street scenes and people at work or in the bars. Strong of this experience and training, she stopped working for the theatre to concentrate on painting.

This talent for sketching and expressing people and atmospheres led her to be enrolled as official portraitist for a National TV channel in criminal courts where photographers are not allowed. This difficult but fascinating and original activity allowed her to earn a living and continue to find her way as a painter.

Astrid loves travelling and discovering other cultures and surroundings. In 1989 she was invited in Japan to achieve 650 portraits of local people for a major travelling exhibition throughout the country. Her natural inclination towards drawing and also black and white led her to develop a great skill in printing where through strong and sober lines she finds the means of expression that, at present, suits her best.

Other travels followed, to Morocco and recently as a resident artist for several months in the wild mountains of West Tasmania. From that extraordinary environment, she brought back a great number of sketches and drawings and achieved large prints of Landscapes that were shown at the « Salon International de l'Estampe et du Dessin Â»in the « grand palais Â» in Paris last May.

Her work is regularly shown in-group and personal exhibitions in France and Switzerland and her prints are present in many private and public collections including the « Bibliothèque Nationale Â».