Solanges Jolicoeur: Artist of the Month Exhibition: June 15 - July 15, 2001: Carrie Art Collection: Haitian Art

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Biography of the Artist
Review of the Artist by Michel Philippe Lerebours

I N T E R V I E W
Interview of Solanges Jolicoeur by Michel Philippe Lerebours M.P.L. = Michel Phillippe Lerebours • S.J. = Solanges Jolicoeur click here for FRENCH VERSION
M.P.L.:	When and how did you start painting?
S.J..:	I started drawing and painting as a child. For me, it was just an agreeable way to pass the time during moments of leisure. It was not until much later that I decided to give myself over to it completely, ten years ago now.
M.P.L.:	*Did you receive an art education? Where and when?*
S.J..:	I am self-taught. As an adolescent, I dove into reading different works on drawing and painting, and that's how I acquired the first foundations. I explored different thechniques that would give me competence and quickness. Much later, I was to make decisive choices about the medium and the type of representation that best suited my perceptions, as I frequented artists' studios.
M.P.L.:	*Has your style evolved since the beginning? If yes, how?*
S.J..:	My style evolved very rapidly since the early years. It's true that one must establish a certain mastery of drawing and painting in the first place in order to be free of all constraint of technique. At the beginning of my search for an expressive mode, my style passed from more classical drawing in pastel colors (wich were hardly indicative of my personality) to impressionism. Later, relieved of a certain constraints, I discovered a much stronger and more dynamic mode of expression, both through accentuated colors and tachism. Then my style became more pronounced , over the course of these last years.
M.P.L.:	*With wich school or local or international group can you be associated?*
S.J..:	I have a great deal of affinity for expressionism, as much through my palette as my stoke. I apply my "arbitrary" bright and dark colors directly to the canvas; it's there that the mixing, without restraint, is often done. My pictorial stroke, which creates undefined forms, brushes on the abstract, and also creates rough surfaces. In addition, what I express through a work is more important for me, than the represented object.
M.P.L.:	*You are primarily colorist; of what importance is the drawing for you?*
S.J..:	The drawing is the structural basis of my pictorial writing since it supports the whole organization of my canvas. It is the invisible thread that sometimes animates and enhances my colors. I often draw with the brush or the knife to preserve spontaneity of gesture. The drawing is the tie that binds me yet to the figurative.
M.P.L.:	*Of what importance is subject matter to you?*
S.J..:	The subject is the first tie that binds me to the execution of a painting. It seems to be the goal to achieve, but it becomes just a pretext for the pleasure of creating a work of art. So it is a sort of pathway that leads to the realization of the conceptual form that I feel. The subject is revived in the eye of the spectator who appreciates the rendering of the work. For me, my subject is above all the expression of a profoundly personal view.
M.P.L.:	*In what direction do you think your painting will lead in the future?*
S.J..:	On the whole, the direction of my painting depends on a spontaneous evolution maintained by the desire to produce a work that answers to my interior aspirations. It all passes, then, through a permanent search for expression, a personal introspection which could very well lead to a form of lyrical abstraction.

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