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Magalie Guerin's Repetitious Shape Systems

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Magalie has had a relationship with a hat-like shape for the past several years of her practice, painting the shape over and over again to create a systematic style to her work. Previously concentrating on detailed ballpoint drawings, Magalie has opened up her practice to embrace color— not settling on a final palette until several layers are built up upon the canvas.

I\W: Can you explain the motivation behind your hat series and what you gained by holding onto that particular shape for so long?
It started in grad school, I was doing sketches from old furniture, mostly chairs, and the hat shape came from an old butterfly chair. The final sketch looked more like a hat than a chair. I was reading a lot about repetition in art, and I thought maybe I should focus on one thing and see how it would develop, as opposed to every painting having different imagery and not knowing what each needed. I like to work within systems, and this system was simple: one shape, one size, and repeating it over and over again. I would repeat the shape, but the painting would change every time. The idea was to focus on the subtleties and changes. I would write every day about what was happening with the shape. It became this sort of character in my studio. It became a presence, almost like a pet shape. I would ask myself how is it changing? Is it a portrait of this shape? What are its different moods? The more I worked with it, the more it felt like it was really enhancing the paintings by getting to know this one thing more and more.

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Were you viewing repetition as restriction?
Yes, in a boundary sense. With painting there are so many decisions you can make. Before I was painting I was doing works on paper with ballpoint for years. There were decisions in terms of narrative, but once they were made I would just follow through with the ballpoint application, and there wasn’t much else that would happen. When I started painting I got kind of crazy with all the different directions I could go in. It became so overwhelming that it would make me just turn around in circles. Having restrictions, especially with size, made it so I could order the right kind of stretcher and just get going. Within the limitation there is still freedom, but there is a starting point.

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Do those restrictions allow you to focus more on color and developing intricate palettes?
Color, shape, and paint application, yes. It seems like the more I repeat something, the more and less attached I am to it at the same time. All of my paintings are very shape-oriented. When I draw a shape for the first time, I don’t know what it really looks like, and I get kind of nervous about it. What is it? What does it need? If I only do it once, it feels kind of stiff. With repetition, I become less attached to the original drawing and I can discover a lot more with it.

My paintings can get so tight, and until I do something that breaks that tightness and gets some air moving again, it just doesn’t finish. It is very nerve-racking. The more paintings I work on at the same time, the least attached I am to them and the more daring they can be.

How did the original hat paintings transition into what you are doing now?
The newer works are from the same shape, but I have begun to paint over the old paintings. I flip the canvas, I see other shapes, but it is still the original form. When I had the show at Corbett vs.Dempsey, those were older paintings that I painted over. Since I did that, everything has opened up. I still have the hat, but now I have begun to cut it up and dissect it. The shape itself is getting modified. I can change the orientation, and look closer into the shapes that are happening on the outside of it. I noticed at the beginning of my painting life that I was very worried about contour lines. I am so into the form that I couldn’t go over its contour while painting, I was bound by the shape. It was almost a joke to me how afraid I was. In the new work, I am making a point to have carved lines into the surface that I have to paint over.

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How are you moving forward with a new color scheme for each new painting?
I have no idea. I really like to see the history of a painting, its layers. Sometimes I discover an interesting color scheme at the beginning of a painting, but then I continue to build it and try out many colors. When I start, I can’t have an idea of color because it has to be built. I am working with 11 or more paintings at a time. If I mix a color for a specific painting, I might look around and realize it is actually needed on an opposing painting. It is a very intuitive visual process. Working on this many paintings is my ideal, and is possible only when there is not a deadline.

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I’ve read that you describe your shapes as human surrogates, how do they act in this way?
They look like organs. The original shape people would say looks like a clover, or a uterus, or of course people see penises everywhere. So it was the way the shape looked like something bodily, but also the way the shape became a character for me. It became a companion to me. I had this weird sentimental relationship to it. My relationship to the shape became somewhat similar to a relationship I would have with a friend. I would be mad at it when it was doing something I didn’t want. It became such a personalized relationship. When you are alone at the studio a lot, that becomes the relationship you have—with the work.

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Did you notice what feelings you were experiencing towards the shape when paintings would become more or less attractive to you?
When I get angry at it, it gets better. That happened to me with a painting a couple of years ago. It was a painting called “Agnes” and I had worked on it for awhile without any preconceived composition. I got angry because it wasn’t going anywhere, and I don’t get angry very often. I took the biggest brush I had with black paint and swiped it across the painting and it literally finished it. It was so beautiful and it was such a surprise to me. My paintings can get so tight, and until I do something that breaks that tightness and gets some air moving again, it just doesn’t finish. It is very nerve-racking. The more paintings I work on at the same time, the least attached I am to them and the more daring they can be.

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