JAPANESE TEXT

Marie-Helene Beaudry is an artist who defies categorization. Her art has a component of conceptualism. For instance, in her series “Life of Doll” the doll motif is a many-layered metaphor and pairing of opposites such as innocence and sexuality, and the natural world and the world of the imagination. Beaudry’s art also has a strong figurative component. The series “The Impulse to Run” features a runner making his way, in repeated Muybridge fashion, across dress-making patterns. That the figure is male and the patterns are for dresses is a typical Beaudry witticism. The precision of the patterns is contrasted with the lack of clarity as man makes his way, running into the future.

The artist is also something of a mystic, which is evident in her series “Trimorphism” The term 'Trimorphism' refers to three aspects to the development of form in Beaudry's work: animal, human and inanimate. The three cross over each other, in that an inanimate object, like a violin for instance, is akin to the female body (a fact that the Surrealists capitalized on), and also its elemental contours suggest insect or animal forms. Beaudry is not concerned with simple associations, or seeing things in triplets. On the contrary, the underlying unity of phenomena is her focus.

Stylistically, the artist happily roams the ethereal realm of abstract painting, and introduces passages of representation, to bring the viewer down to earth, so to speak. That she accomplishes this with grace, without ever being contradictory or jarring, is to her credit.

The paintings have a dashing quality, and, while avoiding being flamboyant, they possess dynamic movement. There is a definite character to the body of work, but the artist does not settle on just one visual idea, rather she experiments with a variety of compositions and motifs, and the energy she invests her works with is ultimately more satisfying than the repetition of one successful formula.