It’s going to sound cliché but my emotions also fuel my creativity. Creating in various forms becomes a way for me to transmute emotional energies from my body to a canvas or a piece of paper and share it with others who can relate or connect to it. We have been captured by the dreamlike scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Elaine Crowe Land Influence
ambience that marks out your artistic production and that seem to unveil the bridge between the real and the imagined, inviting the viewers to appreciate all the beauty that surrounds us. Scottish painter Peter Doig once remarked that even the most realistic paintings are derived more from within the head than from what's out there in scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition Move Your Body
front of us, how do you consider the relationship between reality and imagination, playing within your artistic production? Marie-Judith Jean-Louis: I see reality and imagination as being intertwined and interchangeable. There is not reality without imagination and there’s no imagination without reality. Everything we consider to be reality started in someone’s imagination first. And our imagination is often seeded from our perceived reality. When it comes to the clouds. I wouldn’t be able to paint them without seeing them in reality first. I first started to paint clouds in the background of my urban sketches without really thinking about them. I was simply reproducing what I could see in reality. But when I saw that cloud in the shape of a question mark during a trip, as I was wondering about the space around me, something clicked. And not too long after that I focused on painting clouds. That seed of reality was planted in my mind and sparked new ideas in my imagination to create the imaginary paintings I get to create now in our reality. It’s all connected. Your artworks have often titles that seem to offer guidance to the viewers: how do you go about naming your work ? In particular, is it important for you to tell something that might walk the viewers through their visual experience? Marie-Judith Jean-Louis: I go back and forth whether I should name the paintings or not because it does influence the perception of the viewer in some way. But at the time I felt I needed to, especially when I decided to create a book around these particular paintings. Naming the art was very intuitive for me. I looked at the painting once it was completed and listened to the words that came to mind as I was pondering on them. It’s a bit like a meditation. Random words come to mind and often they make sense for the painting, so I just go with it. I think that’s where the concept of visual meditation came to mind as well. We’re often told in the mindfulness and meditation community to observe our thoughts and let them go, just like passing clouds. In this case I look at the clouds to hear what thought it was carrying, and that became the name of the painting. I think there’s value in offering some guidance to the viewer to get them started. We live in a world where a lot of the time, preconceived ideas are offered first. It’s more comfortable for the majority of people to receive guidance. So it’s something I do to get them started. They can either accept it or reject it if they find a more appropriate title for them.There will always be some who will have their own interpretation regardless of the title. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, the main message you aim to convey with your art is that our world is more wonderful and magical than we can ever Elaine Crowe scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
Marie-Judith Jean-Louis Photo by John Pugh (IG @artofjohnpugh)
imagine and that we are all connected: do you think that art could play a role in social issues, both developing positive feeling and raising awareness to an ever-growing audience on topical issues that affect our unstable society? Marie-Judith Jean-Louis: YES! ABSOLUTELY! I believe art plays a major role in bringing awareness to social issues. We don’t always see it but art surrounds us and influence us every day. It takes many forms and influences our understanding of the world, our position in it, our connection to others, our connection to the environment, our connection to ourselves and more. I think art can be used in a constructive manner and in a destructive manner. As artists, we get to decide which side of this fence we want to play in. One thing I came to realize thus far is that the contrast is needed in order to for us to keep evolving. I just happened to be one of the artists who chose to contribute to the connecting and building aspects of our art’s influence on society. Reminding us of Henri Magritte's Clouds series, your stimulating Thought Leader and Ceci n'est pas un nuage have captured us for its unique combination between surreal atmosphere and captivating subtle humour: how does Magritte's work inspire you and how do you consider the role of humour playing within the chance of developing a sense of curiosity? Marie-Judith Jean-Louis: I love Magritte’s work. There’s something very captivating about his paintings playing with reality and a dream-like world. I’m quite attracted to the surreal worlds he created. When I look at his painting, ideas and questions keep me engaged. There seems to be a fascinating story that I want to uncover, a bit like a visual puzzle which satisfies both my left and right brains. One day I just thought it would be fun to reinterpret some of his paintings my way. I think I tend to have a subtle, sudden and unexpected kind of humour amongst my friends and peers. So that aspect of myself might show up from time to time in my paintings unintentionally. It’s a good thing to bring humour in art, when possible, because I think it disarms people and allow them to be more receptive to new ideas. You are an established artist and over the years your artworks have been showcased in a number of exhibitions in the Toronto area: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? By the way, as the move of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to online platforms — as Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mjsketchbook — increases, how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalized audience? Marie-Judith Jean-Louis: I feel like I’m still at scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
the early stages of introducing myself and my work to my local audience and to the world wide web. So I would say it’s a very new relationship and we’re getting acquainted at the moment. scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Elaine Crowe Land Perspective
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I also feel we’re still in the infancy of art beyond the traditional gallery space. Everyone is trying to figure out how it all works, where they fit and what works best for them. There are a lot of possibilities but it’s also easy to get lost in it. I’ve noticed on my side that looking to document everything and stay on top of the curve when it comes to social media affects the production of art in a positive and a negative way. On the plus side, I get to create artwork I wouldn’t have thought of creating if it wasn’t for the numerous inspirations and insights from other artists, followers and various content available on social media. On the negative side, altering your work flow to accommodate for social media can stifle the creative process. For example, I started to practice sketching portraits and posting them online and noticed that I would get more reactions creating reels on Instagram. But then I also noticed that I would avoid creating the portraits if it was too dark to record a video or I didn’t feel like setting up the camera to record the process. Creating reels is also an art form that requires a different approach to painting or sketching. Although I enjoy creating reels, I don’t currently plan on becoming the best reel artist. So I had to remind myself that the most important thing for me was to practice creating better art more that creating entertaining short videos to get noticed. Of course I want people to see my work, but not at the expense of creating better work and improving my own skills. There’s a fine balance that I feel I’m still navigating when it comes to this modern way of displaying and sharing my art. We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Marie-Judith. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Marie-Judith Jean-Louis: Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really enjoyed it as well. Currently I’m working on a body of work around the art of love including a book. In terms of ideas, I want to continue to explore more art concepts around surreal clouds scenes and develop new art ideas around mindfulness that can be integrated in public spaces to help people in a visually therapeutic manner. An interactive solo art show is also something I’m contemplating for the future. Elaine Crowe scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]