Marie-Josée Roy Canadian, b. 1968

Marie-Josée Roy, born in Trois-Rivières, Québec, is a prominent Canadian multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses painting and sculpture, with a particular focus on metal as her primary medium. Currently based in the Saguenay region, Roy has built a reputation for transforming rigid industrial materials into dynamic, expressive works that explore the fragility and resilience of human experience. Her artistic approach challenges the perceived permanence of metal, breathing life into inert surfaces and creating a dialogue between strength and vulnerability.

Roy’s work is characterized by a fascination with transition and transformation. She often depicts figures and abstract forms in states of metamorphosis, suggesting the constant evolution of life and identity. Through her sculptures, seemingly heavy materials are manipulated to appear delicate, fluid, and in motion, reflecting the tension between permanence and change. Her art evokes a poetic vision of human growth, emergence, and rebirth, inviting viewers to engage with the psychological and emotional dimensions of her work.

Technically versatile, Roy employs a wide range of methods, including welding, etching, plating, painting, engraving, and image transfer, combining them to create layered, complex surfaces that amplify the narrative and symbolic qualities of her pieces. Many of her recent works feature cocoon-like metallic forms from which human figures emerge, transforming into ethereal, butterfly-like beings that embody resilience, transformation, and renewal. These striking visual metaphors articulate the interplay between constraint and liberation, permanence and transience.

Marie-Josée Roy received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in 1992. Since then, she has exhibited extensively throughout Canada and the United States, including major shows in New York, Boston, and Miami. Her works have been collected by both private and institutional collectors, and she continues to develop a practice that merges technical mastery, conceptual depth, and poetic expression. Through her multidisciplinary approach, Roy affirms her position as a significant figure in contemporary Canadian art, celebrated for her exploration of material, form, and the transformative potential of human experience.