Stéphanie Boulay is a graphic and visual artist specializing in visual identity, publishing, and creative workshops focused on collage and the reuse of materials, combining design with an eco-friendly artistic approach.
I am a painter and draftsman. I paint primarily in acrylics. Much of my work draws inspiration from 16th- and 17th-century European painting. I often start with existing works that inspire me.
I work a lot with hunting paintings: I focus mainly on the dogs; I love their expressiveness and take them out of their context to use them as a focal point in my work. This evokes something old, museum-like, almost dusty, but at the same time it also brings to mind childhood.
I come from a rather bourgeois background, shaped by the fine arts and frequent visits to museums. I also have an obsession with Caravaggio. I often create variations based on his works, as if it were a game: I reproduce one of his paintings, then I reproduce my own copy without looking at the original again, and so on. We gradually lose the details, but it’s mainly a way to analyze the effect of memory and déjà vu in the act of painting.
I’m also developing a series of assemblages using details I extract—in the form of sketches—to then recompose a more baroque drawing, made up of elements from the same painting.
It’s very pleasant to be in a place like this. The setting is wonderful. The fact that people are staying at the CHU (Emergency Shelter) is both a bit sad and very lively. It brought something more human, more familiar: we recognized faces, children moving about and looking at the works. The place seemed alive.
I got to know quite a few residents. The turnover creates a sense of suspense and leads to people leaving, but there are also simple, warm moments, like taking a break and having a coffee. Despite everything, this place remains above all my studio, my nest: when I’m here, I mostly just want to create.
I am currently working on a thesis in visual arts whose main focus is copying. My goal is to expand my current practice, particularly into sculpture and more abstract painting. I’m trying to produce a body of work to put together an exhibition.
When you start creating, you inevitably question originality. But influences are manifold, and I’m not sure we ever truly invent something entirely new. We live in a world saturated with images; we constantly compare ourselves to others, and we wonder if any of it still makes sense.
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