Inside the Studio: Cathy Jolicoeur
- Art Dealer Street
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Cathy Jolicoeur’s practice begins where control dissolves. Her work does not emerge from rigid planning or fixed intention, but from a place of instinct, material engagement, and emotional urgency. Each piece unfolds through a process that is both physical and intuitive, where gesture, texture, and experimentation become central to meaning.
Working across a wide range of materials, from traditional tools to unconventional elements like straws and hand-embossed aluminum, Jolicoeur builds surfaces that feel alive. Her work carries a strong tactile presence, where matter is not simply a medium, but an active participant in the creation process. The result is a body of work that feels immediate, grounded, and deeply connected to sensation.
At the core of her practice lies a fascination with contrast. Fragility and strength, organic forms and industrial materials, delicacy and intensity, these dualities coexist within her work, creating a visual language that reflects the complexity of lived experience. Her recurring focus on insects and invertebrates further deepens this exploration, drawing attention to forms that are often overlooked, yet rich with symbolic and emotional resonance.
Jolicoeur’s work resists perfection. Instead, it embraces imperfection, irregularity, and raw texture as essential components of expression. In doing so, her practice becomes not only a personal exploration, but also a response to a contemporary world increasingly dominated by digital precision and uniformity.
In this Inside the Studio conversation, Jolicoeur reflects on instinct, materiality, transformation, and the enduring power of tactile art.
Read on to learn more in an exclusive interview with Cathy Jolicoeur:
Your work is deeply rooted in instinct and material exploration, often described as a “vital necessity” rather than a premeditated act. How do you navigate this intuitive process, and what does it reveal about your relationship with creation?
Approaching creation as a vital necessity implies an intuitive approach where exploring materials takes precedence over preconceived plans. This translates into a deep listening to sensations, an "alert receptivity" where letting go allows the unconscious to guide the material. This process reveals a need for authenticity, a direct connection with vital energy, and a form of spontaneous dialogue, transforming feeling into physical reality. The material itself dictates the direction, often triggered by emotions rather than intellectual decisions.
You work with a wide range of materials and tools, from brushes to straws to hand-embossed aluminum. How does this tactile and experimental approach shape the emotional and physical presence of your work?
The tactile and experimental approach shapes the work by creating a direct and intimate connection, transforming matter into a vehicle for emotions. By involving the body (gestures, touch) and experimentation, the artist generates works with rich and unique textures, reinforcing physical presence and inducing an immediate emotional resonance in the viewer.
Your practice often brings together contrasting elements, such as delicate entomological forms and industrial materials like metal. What draws you to this tension between fragility and strength?
The tension between fragility and strength in painting is compelling because it captures human resilience, the precarious balance of existence, and a vibrant emotional intensity. This duality allows for the creation of nuanced works, where technical vulnerability (light lines, organic materials) coexists with expressive power, making the art both profound and memorable.
In your work, insects and invertebrates are elevated in scale and attention. What interests you about these often-overlooked forms, and how do you reframe their presence within a contemporary artistic context?
Painting insects is a rich artistic and symbolic practice, blending fascination with natural detail, metaphorical expression, and technical exploration. In short, painting insects allows one to capture the "unsuspected beauty of small creatures" while also participating in a long artistic tradition. Metamorphosis, particularly that of the butterfly, is a metaphor for resurrection, the soul, or change.
You exhibited at the 21st edition of Clio Art Fair in New York. What was that experience like for you, and how did presenting your work in that international setting shape your perspective?
My presence in New York: I was part of a group of 35 international artists selected for this edition. I was also featured in the fair's "Spotlight" section. This experience was extraordinary. It was my first time in New York. I was able to present my work to a high-profile clientele and made some sales. This experience allowed me to access the international market.
Your work embraces imperfection, texture, and raw materiality. In a world increasingly driven by digital precision and uniformity, what role do you believe this kind of tactile, sensory art plays today?
My art acts as an anchor. In a smooth, immaterial digital flow, returning to raw materials offers an experience of immediate presence that the screen cannot simulate.
Here's why this role is essential today:
Emotional resonance: Imperfection tells a human story. A fingerprint or an irregular texture evokes vulnerability and the passage of time, creating a stronger bond of empathy than a "perfect" image.
Sensory counter-power: We are experiencing an "atrophy of the senses." Tactile art awakens touch and smell, reminding us that our reality is physical before it is visual.
In praise of the unique: Faced with the infinite reproduction of digital technology, the textured object is irreplaceable. Its physical resistance imposes a slower pace, a necessary contemplation.
It is a form of poetic resistance: it celebrates what is unfinished, fragile, and, by extension, profoundly alive.
Jolicoeur’s work does not seek to resolve or refine experience, it holds it in its rawest form. Through texture, material, and gesture, she creates surfaces that carry the trace of action, emotion, and presence, allowing each piece to exist as both object and experience.
The longer one engages with her work, the more its physicality becomes central. Texture is not decorative but structural, holding memory, movement, and time within it. The materials themselves seem to retain a kind of energy, as if each mark is a record of a moment rather than a finished statement.
What emerges is a practice grounded in authenticity, one that values process over perfection, sensation over representation. In a landscape increasingly shaped by digital smoothness and repetition, Jolicoeur’s work offers a necessary counterpoint: something tactile, imperfect, and undeniably real.
Her paintings do not simply ask to be seen, they ask to be felt, reminding us that the most powerful forms of expression often exist beyond what can be fully explained.
You can learn more about Cathy Jolicoeur and her work via these links: Website: Cathy Jolicoeur Instagram: @cathyjolicoeur Artsy: @Cathy Jolicoeur
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