Frame 61October 24, 2019

Josephine Rowntree

Frame 61October 24, 2019

“My subject is often a moment that is on the verge of change.”

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? Where did you study?

I’m French and English. I was born in France and moved to London when I was 14 years old. I lived for 18 years in London, so I can now say I know both cultures equally. I studied painting at the Slade School of art. I actually stopped painting in my second year and made installations. Back then I was making work for the institution, but now I make work for myself. After my degree, I went in to making short films which eventually led me back to painting. Although I enjoyed working with a team, I realised how important it was for me to control the image alone and with painting I felt I could achieve this better. I had a studio in Tottenham for 7 years which I enjoyed a lot but I was looking for a slower paced city, somewhere with strong light, so I moved my studio to Lisbon for a year. I now live in Paris.

Your work attempts to visualise time, in what ways do you use paint to achieve this?

Paint is the medium I use to freeze an image in time. I use impasto to anchor the image down. But it’s in the filtration and depiction of a mental image that I attempt to achieve this visualisation of time passing. The image is often figurative but it can also be abstract. My subject is often a moment that is on the verge of change. For example the act of turning a page, I’m interested to paint this moment, not the page before or after, the moment in between. Recently I’ve been experimenting with plaster. With plaster I feel I have found a more direct way to solidify time, instead of working with a figurative image, I’m playing with the time I have before the plaster dries, as I manipulate and carve the wet plaster, I’m casting strong shadows, playing with the light and leaving the residue of how the plaster flows down the surface.

To what extent is failure important in your work?

I wouldn’t say failure as such but embracing change is important. Failing is learning, I wish that we would use that definition instead. When I’m attempting to hold the residue of a mental image, I’m trying but “failing”. Yet, in that failure, there is a concealed potential. I embrace the shift because in that deviation there’s infinite interesting gestures to capture.

Tell us a bit about how you spend your day / studio routine? What is your studio like?

I start with works on paper and I make a few for a week before I start a painting. The works on paper are more spontaneous and fast. I’m messy in the studio but I try to organise myself a little but the mess does take over! My studio routine is pretty simple, I just have to get straight to it if not I will procrastinate. If I find it hard hard to focus, I will put some music on. Also if I get stuck on a painting, I need to start a new one or just play with composition and colours.

You work with a varied choice of materials & surfaces, involving oils, acrylic, plaster, board, aluminium and jute. Are the materials appropriate to each subject matter, or does it depend on how you are feeling at that time?

Yes, it’s all about the feeling! Spontaneous and subjective. But also it’s about trying to find the right medium for my style, it’s an ongoing journey. Each material has its own logic, and wants to be treated in a certain way. I never try to fight against what the material wants me to do. I like tactile substances because they sit between painting and sculpture. There’s something interesting about a very textured painting, it has a split personality; when you are at a distance it all comes together seamlessly but when you are close up it’s complicated.

What artwork have you seen recently that has resonated with you?

I saw the exhibition of Giulio Paolini at Marian Goodman Gallery Paris in April and it has stayed with me ever since. I knew of his work but I hadn’t seen his work in the flesh before. The show had works made with a variety of materials that created an overall installation. The works were full of signs luring you into a visual narrative about art and its representation, the figure of the artist, and the gaze of the viewer.

How do you go about naming your work?

The titles of my work are important. I either have the title before I make the work or it will come during painting but it can also come much later on, weeks or months after.Attaching language to an image is difficult, so it will often be a word that echoes with the image, or it can be more direct because sometimes I will want to direct the viewer to a more direct meaning.

Is there anything new and exciting in the pipeline, you would like to tell us about?

I’m planning a group show here in Paris and I will also be applying to do a residency in April. I’m also looking to apply to do a Masters.

josephinerowntree.co.uk

@josephinerowntree1

All images are courtesy of the artist
Publish date: 24/10/19