Jocelyne Dodier – Quick Look (2019)

A QUICK LOOK AT JOCELYNE DODIER

In this time and space, is Dodier an artist? Or an entrepreneur; or a sculptor; or a performer; or a scientist; or a hair stylist; or a farmer? I am definitely a little bit of all of that! Born and raised on a farm in the province of Québec, Canada, I grew up appreciating stone, contrary to many farmers who despised them. As a matter of fact stone stacks were playgrounds and each stone could incarnate treasures to be discovered. This interest for stone really reignited ten years ago, when I tackled my first carving, Cybèle, a pregnant figure, meaning the birth of my art. When I carve there is a delirium of stories coming out of the mechanics of carving. Is this normal?

Approach to “Murmure”: I simply wanted to create something fluid and abstract and let the stone speak. I want it crude, which is explained by the bumps passing thru the body of the silhouette. Then the red part, which was the hardest part of the stone, would resemble a splash of water dripping or exploding and squirting. All through that dime-sized passage, we can see through and imagine the versatility, the vulnerability, the sensuality, sexuality, fertility, love, hate and the entire well-kept intimate secrets of her flesh. I simply could not resist exposing the crude and bloody femininity of her organ in all her nudity, and without camouflaging stories of her womanhood. 

Approach to “Inner Child”: At first the triangular shape of white marble did not transpire any inspiration. So, I started to feel the stone with chisels and hammers to discover what marble really is! Following some hits on the top of the stone, I found it very intimidating on the elbows and wrists, but I discovered a shape of a winter jacket hoody on a child; and voilá an ambitious piece was born. 

I researched proportions by creating a model to help me see through possible pauses. That helped me tremendously. Then I got stuck with what to do with the extra stone in the back of my figure. It was through a brainstorm session with colleagues that it was revealed to me that I would carve three snowballs in her back. The next challenge was to figure out the balance. So, I created a wire figure model. 

Then the following thing was demystifying facial expressions of children with a playful look. I looked at videos, photos and selected a special photo depicting hair, eyes, nose. I was told that this type of marble can take details, so I even did eye brows and eye lashes. 

The daring final touch was to drill a 3” deep heart to create whole-hearted emotions. The meaning would be: feeling the world in a naive and non-judgmental way, a metaphor demonstrating the desire of openness of experiencing new possibilities. 

Visit Jocelyne’s website: https://www.galeriedodier.com/