Magalie Guerin

          

Can you briefly describe what you do?

At the moment (08/2011) I make non-representational paintings that look like abstract art

What drives you to make work?

It’s an interest/engagement in fluidity, attentive looking (visual puzzles) and spatial/social relationship as well as shape invention and in slowing down the pace

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

My studio hours are usually 10-6PM. A lot of time is spent sitting and looking at the shapes and surfaces on the canvas. I usually build them with gesso and have to sand down multiple coats, which is time consuming. There’s a lot of removal in my process.

How long have you been working in that way?

Hard to say, but 2 years ago I was exclusively working with ballpoint pen on paper which was quite different.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

Mary Heilmann, Thomas Scheibitz, Amy Sillman, Nicola Tyson, Charline von Heyl, Susan Frecon, Brancusi, Morandi...

…Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith.

And closer peers such as Angela Dufresne, Dawn Clements, Jenny Vogel, Sunny Payson, Lea Schleiffenbaum, Michelle Grabner, Timothy Bergstrom and Sean Ward (to name a few) with whom I’ve had countless conversations regarding art and everything else.

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

Everything. But mostly it’s the dynamics in relationships and psychology. Then there is furniture design, architecture, literature, nature…

How would you like people to engage with your work?

With lightness, trust and humor. And with an irresistible desire to live with!

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

There was a show this summer at Harris Lieberman in NYC of influential women artists that got me very excited about painting.

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

Yes, I will be a fellow at the American Academy in Rome… one day.