CATHERINE GARRIGUE

Catherine Garrigue (born Paris 1954) has always had a passion for drawing. She studied Art History in Paris before enrolling in sculpture workshops. She then taught sculpture for fifteen years before stopping in 2012 to focus on her own art.  A painful family death and the aftermath of grief led to her using drawing as a form of release, claiming drawing was an essential act to keep her balanced. It led her to questioning who she really was, to better comprehend her world. “Drawing, therefore, is not a hobby but an absolute necessity for my psychological balance. This is why I draw every day, to fulfill the mission I have undertaken”.

Her work is spontaneous and connects with her inner feelings and emotions: “It is the beauty of the mystery of creation”, believing her work to be research into the mystery of the soul. She claims that traumas in her life come through on the paper and it is her way of dealing with them: creating something like a journal, chapters in a book, following a specific theme from her subconscious for long periods until she feels it is complete: “Like words, these subjects helped me uncover elements from the attic of my memory, shedding light on my subjectivity, even my consciousness or, more precisely, my soul”. Catherine works mainly with blue and black fountain pens, stating the theme chooses the colour. Starting by tracing lines on the page, she aims for the utmost automatism with distorted figures and faces emerging alongside flowers, plants, and birds. All the figures have their eyes closed to portray the fact that they are in that period between life and death, and some have ectoplasm escaping from their mouths conjuring the idea of spirits and souls.

Catherine lives alone now and the silence she experiences is very sacred and important in her life, allowing her to concentrate. Her day is split into cleaning in the morning and creating in the afternoons. She works intuitively with no sketching, nothing is rushed. She believes her art is free, focusing on emotion and vibration, and this then allows for freedom of interpretation by herself and others. Catherine aligns herself as a creator, and not an artist, within the art world.

Her work is in several collections around Europe including the College of Psychic Studies, London and the Collection of Mediumistic Art, Germany.

Click the thumbnails to see larger images and more details. Further artworks are available on request.

2024 Outsider Art Fair with Jennifer Lauren, New York
2018 Biennial of Singular Arts, in association with Jean Louis Faravel, Holland
2017 Solo exhibition, Galerie Alain Dettinger-Mayer, Lyon
2016 Minimenta, Galerie de la Femme à Barbe, Paris
2015 Outsider Art Fair with Atelier Arts23, Paris
2014 Isabelle Floc’h, Galerie La Ralentie, Paris