For artist Magali Fournier, the act of painting is a journey. She doesn’t have a particular outcome in mind, and she prefers it that way.
“I just don’t know what I’m going to be doing,” she said. “I like that. I let the present moment determine the work.”
The result is colorful abstract body of work that has a sense of immediacy and motion. The works are currently on display in a solo exhibit that opened Sunday, January 14, at Lyons Fork Sunday, 450 Main Street.
Fournier, who moved with her family from the South of France to Lyons in April 2017, began her exploration of abstract painting not long after her move. She said art was something that was always an interest of hers. As a child, she always had a pencil and was drawing things. Later, as a teenager, she began painting more representational works, but travel and life intervened and forced her to set aside art for a while. When she picked it back up, she had a much different perspective.
“When I started in September of 2017, I said I wasn’t going to do what I used to do,” said Fournier. “When I started painting again, I took a piece of canvas and said, what am I going to do now? It had been so many years. I didn’t want to reproduce what I did in the past, so I took a brush and started moving my hand.”
No longer constrained by a need to represent image, she let the materials guide her and began experimenting with color and texture. Fournier works primarily in acrylic, but is exploring other media as well, including spray paints and metallic paints. She said she was curious about oils, too, and wants to see how the longer drying periods would play into her expressive work. She uses everything from brushes to knives, and lets the textures and colors emerge as she works. Part of the fun for her is in finding the materials, many of which are reclaimed and some which have images that she works into her paintings.
“What I like about art is it’s unlimited,” she said. “I always have new things I want to try.” She added that in the end she sees specific stories in her work. She is pleased, too, when others see something different.
“What I want is not to impose an idea. I want to create an emotion. It’s more a feeling, a combination of the colors, the forms. It’s something that speaks to you, so it doesn’t have to be something that exists,” said Fournier.
The Lyons Fork exhibit is one of a handful of exhibits she has already had in the short time since she began painting again, and her work is being received well. She already has sold several pieces, and she is on the books for a show at the Stone Cup at the end of this year. In addition, she moved her studio from her home to the new Art Pharm Gallery at 440 Main Street, where she has consistent public exposure for her work and is inspired by the artists she works alongside each day.
Fournier’s work will be on display at Lyons Fork, 450 Main Street, through May. For further information on her work, contact the artist at magalifournier@icloud.com.
