In recent years, Dage devoted herself exclusively to painting. Her works are the result of a quest. Her paintings are actually studies and experiments of her attempts to seize the elusive; energy. She tries to capture and express the essence of life, the energy that lies within. Her subjects are also selected based on the emotion and energy that emanate from them.
Born in 1967 in Montreal, she had a happy youth. Very young she has shown interest in drawing. Her parents offered her to explore this avenue and at ten, she made her first steps as an artist. She learned how to paint by making reproductions of masters’ paintings.
Later, in spite of the recommendations of the career counsellor, she undertakes arts studies in college. For her it was important that she would end up doing what she loves to do. She didn’t know exactly where that would bring her, but she knew that was the way. She developed her knowledge of painting and drawing. She also explored new techniques and many aspects of visual art, from painting to collage, through the creation of three-dimensional works. But it’s in the pictorial representation that she excelled and choose to concentrate her effort.
Subsequently she completed a Bachelor in Design at the university, still in Montreal. This early education allowed her to evolve and deepen her knowledge and sharpen her critical sense of esthetism. She developed a sense of observation that goes beyond appearances.
After the graduation, she worked for several years as a graphic designer. But the desire to create, to express herself, to paint resurfaced. She starts to create murals. That brings back her joy of painting. For nearly 10 years, she designs and produces murals, mainly for children's rooms, to the delight of young and old.
Although pleasant, it's not enough for her; she feels the need to go deeper. On a beautiful Saturday morning, she bought a first canvas. A very large canvas. Because she feels that it is in large format that she must express her emotions.
She was already playing with paint filaments while creating the murals. In fact, it’s these filaments that led her to experiment creating a painting with lines of paint. She started experimenting, creating textures, mixing paints and mediums and finally found this trait, this defining characteristic of her artistic language. She found her signature; The Intentional Dripping.
Dage use dripping to paint. A technic that the famous American painter Jackson Pollock (also known as Jack the Dripper) created in the 50s. She uses acrylic paint for its fluidity and its rich colors palette. The energy used for the production of a artwork is almost palpable. The uninterrupted movement that can be observed following the lines of paint allows us to imagine the intensity, the presence of the artist when she create.
Dage does not in any way seek to reproduce the real world. Her faces, the trees, even bodies are created beyond the figurative to let the emotions speak, which become an integral parts of the work.
And you may notice on many paintings a strong splashes of paint. That’s for Dage a way to transfer to the painting a bigger charge of emotion. That last splash is more than just paint. It symbolizes the rupture between the intentional dripping and the hazardous, impulsive desire to scream out loud the raw emotion.
(English below)
Dage est une artiste de l’instant présent. Autodidacte, elle s’amuse, expérimente, mélange les médiums et crée des textures afin de générer ce trait qui la caractérise, qui définit son langage artistique : le Dripping intentionnel.
Sa cadence lui est dictée par les milliers de filaments de peinture qui se créent aléatoirement sur le canevas. Les mouvements constants qu’elle exécute au-dessus du tableau s’incarnent telle une chorégraphie pour capter l’énergie du moment présent. C’est dans cet état d’esprit que chaque toile est créée.
Le regard ne peut rester indifférent à la signature singulière d’une œuvre de Dage. Le mouvement des couleurs et des lignes oscille entre dynamisme et douceur, comme un flot d’énergie quasi palpable. Les créations de l’artiste sont en fait des études et expérimentations afin de l’aider dans sa quête à saisir l’insaisissable : l’essence de l’énergie vitale. Ses sujets sont d’ailleurs choisis en fonction de l’émotion et de l’intensité qui en émanent.
Le résultat final combine le désir de l’intention initiale à une série d’événements imprévisibles et incontrôlables. Sa technique l’oblige à lâcher prise sur l’atteinte de la perfection. Elle compose avec les différents facteurs aléatoires afin de créer des œuvres qui symbolisent l’expression de l’intention originelle. C’est cette pulsion qui donne un sens à ses mouvements.
Her art is an expression of life. Each stroke of paint laid on the canvas is a mixture of inspiration, intention and emotions that join the vagaries of life to create vibrant works full of energy and feelings.
Her technique requires that she let go of reaching perfection. She does not paint with a brush or a spatula, both of which would offer her too much control over the outcome. She paints with a stick from which she let the paint drip onto the canvas. At this point, she cannot predict exactly how the paint will land on the canvas or even how it will behave with the other colors. She deals with the results from creating a work that is the expression of the original intention. And it is the power of intent that gives meaning to her movements. Just as in life, the end result in a combination of original intent and a series of unpredictable and uncontrollable events. Just as in life, she learns to deal with these risks and make the best out of it.
She calls her technique Intentional Dripping.
Her work is intended to be an amalgamation of emotion and energy. Through her gesture she transfers her own emotions, her energy. Each stroke of paint is deliberately projected onto the canvas to amplify this energy.
Her subjects are also chosen for the life and the energy that she feels from them. Sometimes subtle, sometimes almost touchable, the energy that emanates from her work is the real meaning of her creation.
There is also the visual aspect of her paintings. Obviously figurative, her work when viewed from closer becomes more abstract. It's a whole different world that is revealed to us. The observer can then distinguish colors and lines. The dynamics curved lines that make the artwork guide our gaze. The whole becomes completely abstract, the subject doesn’t matter anymore, only the vibration of colors and movements count.
In every painting you will notice a very strong stroke. It is with this stroke charged with a lot of energy and emotion that she completes every painting. At this point she truly give up any form of control and she let the painting speaks for itself.
Powered by Artwork Archive