Marina Roy


Marina Roy is a visual artist, educator and writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Life

Roy was born in Quebec City, and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in her youth. She obtained a B.A. in French Literature at Université Laval, a B.F.A. from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and an M.F.A. from the University of British Columbia. She has shown nationally and internationally, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Contemporary Art Gallery, Centre A, Malaspina, and Or Gallery. She is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory.

Artistic practice

Roy's practice is cross disciplinary, with a focus on drawing, painting and animation. Her work investigates material intelligence in a post-humanist perspective. The evolution of her practice draws upon Freud and Bataille, demonstrating modes of fantasy, eroticism, and compulsion by way of changed symbols and recognized icons. The Canadian artist's use of cartoons also aligns her with the domain of the death drive: According to Žižek, characters like Wile E. Coyote occupy a libidinal space where one can live through any catastrophe.

Collaborations

Roy has collaborated with artist Natasha McHardy as the group "Roy & McHardy", in video performance productions of a DIY ethos. Roy has also collaborated on a web-site project with David Clark and Graham Meiser, creating an online extension of her book Sign After the X. She has also collaborated with artist Abbas Akhavan in artworks, such as the video installation Victoria Day , wherein they update Manet, with a performance titled "liquid luncheon on the grass", as well as duo exhibitions such as Neighbours and Fire/Fire.

Select exhibitions

  • 2018: Leaning Out of Windows, Michael O'Brian Exhibition Commons, Emily Carr University, Vancouver
  • 2017: Landfall and Departure: Prologue,
  • 2017: Becoming Animal/Becoming Landscape,
  • 2016: Becoming Animal/Becoming Landscape, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia
  • 2016: Your Kingdom to Command, Vancouver Art Gallery
  • 2015: The Floating Archipelago, , Fredericton, NB
  • 2015: Screen Play: Print and the Moving Image, , Toronto
  • 2013: Once things are reduced to nothing, Artspeak
  • 2012: Fire Fire, Malaspina Printmakers & Centre A
  • 2011: What's Pushed out the door, Comes back through the window, La Central
  • 2011: New Work, Contemporary Art Gallery
  • 2011: Unreal, Vancouver Art Gallery
  • 2009: How soon is now, Vancouver Art Gallery
  • 2008: When the Mood Strikes Us, Platform Gallery
  • 2008: Neighbours, AMS Gallery
  • 2006-08: Trappings
  • 2006: Beauty and the Beast, Alternator Gallery
  • 2006: Everyday Every Other Day, Art Gallery of Mississauga
  • 2004-06: Roy and McHardy. Or Gallery, Concordia University VAV Gallery
  • 2002: Greener Pastures : Open Space Gallery, Artspeak

    Reviews

  • Claer, José "Menage a trois: entre l'humain, l'animal et l'art,"
  • Dahle, Sigrid "When the Mood Strikes Us..."
  • Milroy, Sarah "Pictures are out—experience is in"
  • Witt, Andrew "Contemporary Public Art at Vancouver Library"
  • Tomic, Milena ''"Everyday Every Other Day"''

    Writing

Marina Roy's art practice and writing inform and intersect in their investigation of material, language, history and ideology. She published Sign after the x in 2001. She contributes reviews and critical essays, for artists such as Lyse Lemieux and Abbas Akhavan, in various magazines and catalogues.

Select publications