PASTE-UP | JULIE VOYCE
26.11.2005 | 15.01.2006
Toronto artist Julie Voyce has been developing her current series of abstract screen prints since 2000. Her challenge was to produce an entire body of work using the same three colours (transparent cyan / orange / black). Each abstract print was resolved using only two or three colours. Pre-computer paste-up, drawing and re-photo copied photo copies are employed to construct the images that are then printed on white paper. With good orchestration the printmaker can make two or three colours seem like many more.
The compositions are inspired by everyday life – gleaned in the course of daily errands, transit rides, trips to the museum, trips abroad and objects that unexpectedly catch the artist’s attention at home. Doctor Seuss served as her muse. Over time, Voyce’s imagery emerged as layers of shapes and dots. Her signature style is immediately recognizable and was achieved through an analytical approach to printmaking, tempered by a fondness for drawing.
Virginia M. Eichorn comments:
Her process is extremely analytical and well thought out thereby allowing her to take her colours and make them “do tricks.” Initially, Voyce planned out her colour schemes and then added in what was needed design-wise. In her newest work however, the “dot” has become more significant. She has done away with lines, relying on dot patterns to define shapes and spaces. Changes in dot sizes allow her to play with changes in colour and perception. Initially the dots were defined by the content. This is now subverted and in her most recent works, the dots become the guides and benchmarks for the evolution of the work – they now define and become the content of the works themselves.
Julie Voyce began her education at The Banff Centre School of Fine Art, and later at the Ontario College of Art. She has exhibited her work across Canada, the United States and internationally in Paris, Tokyo, Rome, Glasgow and the United Kingdom. Her most recent Canadian exhibitions include the solo show Paste-Up at Grunt Gallery in Vancouver, and the group exhibitions Some Things (to do with art) at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery; Trans-Figure at the Edmonton Art Gallery; Newly Old Techno at Struts Gallery, Sackville and What it Feels Like For a Girl at the Art Gallery of York University.
