| Sylvie Grégoire |
“This way, I create (or achieve) a significant (or important) medium that I try to animate, bring to life, using my fingers (body rhythms, always), or using paints, chalks, or pigments from India. What I draw, paint or even write comes forth and appears in a sort of time fusion warp, where the composite pieces meet and come together, become One, a complete entity, and finally, an independent work.”
SYLVIE GRÉGOIRE and her work are driven by impulse, not
to mention trance, and her colours are of a rare quality, the colours of pulsating
life. When you look into one of her windows, you may chance catching the spark,
or breath, of a certain reality.
I must admit that I had to touch it to believe it. SYLVIE GRÉGOIRE
clearly told me that she used only acrylic and white canvas, but I would have
sworn that she painted using the rays of the sun, disguised as brushes, on
canvasses taken from pieces of sky from landscapes on the verge of flowering.
Her icons are reinvented, crowned with metal, recalling those by Raoul Dufy, or Chagall, with their light and airy creations, where each trait is flower, rose, or tiger lily, haloing the winged characters that have haunted this artist over the past four years. You will have guessed that she is putting angels into her works, amusing and cooperative messengers of peace and harmony, guardians of the positive or negative energies of our subconscious. Be it cherubs, seraphs or archangels, these divine beings are bearers of majestic light which transcends the canvas, and wraps the observer in an wonderful and comforting aura.
Sylvie Grégoire’s inspiration is the Bible. There, she finds her solar beings, concentrating “all her energies to get them onto the canvas”, line after line, colour after colour and this, for example, is what led to the creation of Souffle d’en haut (Breath from above), for which even the title evokes the holy scriptures. One feels reassured upon browsing her works, and no matter what our beliefs, they calm us and nourish our soul.
JOSUÉ JUDE CARRIER – ART CRITIC FOR “VIE DES ARTS”
Even though born in Hull, Sylvie Grégoire has travelled and studied throughout the world, in Spain, Brazil, India, but she decided to get her Bachelor’s of Visual Arts at the Université du Québec in Montreal in 1987. Her career has been highlighted by many solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad (USA) over the past fifteen years.
The artist’s words are in quotes.