07-30-2014
Tête-à-Tête with Geneviève Roy
Station Laurier
Geneviève Roy is a painter living and working in Montreal. Originally from Quebec, Geneviève is a practicing architect and professor of interior design at Cegep du Vieux Montreal. In addition to her architectural training, Geneviève received a BAC in visual arts from Concordia University in 1995 and has been exhibiting work since 1992. Cité et Fragments, Geneviève's first exhibition in the United States, is a collection of painting and photography that examines the architecture and urban design of Montreal, on view in the FXFOWLE Gallery through September 13th, 2014.
Ilana Judah, Principal and Director of Sustainability at FXFOWLE sat down with Geneviève, her friend and colleague, to discuss her work.
Architecture industrielle
Ilana Judah: Your current exhibition, Cité et Fragments, considers the City of Montreal as a whole as well as the "fragments" that comprise it. What inspired this idea, and how did you decide which fragments to include?
Geneviève Roy: The city has always been a tremendous source of inspiration for me, due primarily to my background as an architect. I chose Montreal as a counterpoint to New York – both cities inspire me deeply, but having lived there for 24 years, I am most strongly anchored and attached to Montreal.
Containers
The idea of fragments represents how I experience the city. In choosing the fragments that inspire me, I wander aimlessly though the city with my camera, where the fragment is most often discovered by accident. I never have a preconceived itinerary or idea of what I am going to encounter. Ultimately my "painter's eye" frames the fragment, and I can imagine the fragment translated into painting.
Fenêtre et escallier de secours
IJ: Your work has a strong approach and attitude towards color, line and gesture. Can you elaborate upon your development in this regard?
GR: Primary colors have always been a foundation in my paintings. For example, the painting Station Laurier appears to be painted with muted grey tones, but if one looks carefully, primary colors are very much present. Colors express the energy and unconscious "essence" of the subject. In the painting Les dessous du pont Jacques-Cartier, the perspective has a powerful force which needed a powerful red to be expressed. The same was true for the Silo paintings. By contrast, Absence et Escalier was a calmer and more static subject, so I employed black and grays to express this atmosphere. Red and black are very important colors in my work – the red to express vibrancy and black to structure the subject.
Les dessous du pont Jacques-Cartier
Absence et Escalier
IJ: Your paintings merge structured architectural drawing with gestural painting. Can you elaborate more on this technique?
GR: For many years, I primarily used spatulas and some brushes in my paintings. Recently I felt a strong need to unite my architecture and painting backgrounds. This "hard and soft" approach is a new technique that I started employing this year. It merges architectural drawing and gestural painting, and also incorporates "Hard Edge" painting which uses masking tape. I first draw with traditional architectural instruments directly on the canvas then paint with brushes, spatulas and even my fingers. I would like to continue to explore this duality of the precise and Cartesian with the unconscious and spontaneous gesture in my future work.
www.genevieveroy.com
Silos
Ilana Judah, Principal and Director of Sustainability at FXFOWLE sat down with Geneviève, her friend and colleague, to discuss her work.
Architecture industrielleIlana Judah: Your current exhibition, Cité et Fragments, considers the City of Montreal as a whole as well as the "fragments" that comprise it. What inspired this idea, and how did you decide which fragments to include?
Geneviève Roy: The city has always been a tremendous source of inspiration for me, due primarily to my background as an architect. I chose Montreal as a counterpoint to New York – both cities inspire me deeply, but having lived there for 24 years, I am most strongly anchored and attached to Montreal.
ContainersThe idea of fragments represents how I experience the city. In choosing the fragments that inspire me, I wander aimlessly though the city with my camera, where the fragment is most often discovered by accident. I never have a preconceived itinerary or idea of what I am going to encounter. Ultimately my "painter's eye" frames the fragment, and I can imagine the fragment translated into painting.
Fenêtre et escallier de secoursIJ: Your work has a strong approach and attitude towards color, line and gesture. Can you elaborate upon your development in this regard?
GR: Primary colors have always been a foundation in my paintings. For example, the painting Station Laurier appears to be painted with muted grey tones, but if one looks carefully, primary colors are very much present. Colors express the energy and unconscious "essence" of the subject. In the painting Les dessous du pont Jacques-Cartier, the perspective has a powerful force which needed a powerful red to be expressed. The same was true for the Silo paintings. By contrast, Absence et Escalier was a calmer and more static subject, so I employed black and grays to express this atmosphere. Red and black are very important colors in my work – the red to express vibrancy and black to structure the subject.
Les dessous du pont Jacques-CartierAbsence et EscalierIJ: Your paintings merge structured architectural drawing with gestural painting. Can you elaborate more on this technique?
GR: For many years, I primarily used spatulas and some brushes in my paintings. Recently I felt a strong need to unite my architecture and painting backgrounds. This "hard and soft" approach is a new technique that I started employing this year. It merges architectural drawing and gestural painting, and also incorporates "Hard Edge" painting which uses masking tape. I first draw with traditional architectural instruments directly on the canvas then paint with brushes, spatulas and even my fingers. I would like to continue to explore this duality of the precise and Cartesian with the unconscious and spontaneous gesture in my future work.
www.genevieveroy.com
Silos