Artist Statement
My current work is about identity, mapping of the self, reconstruction and preservation. I investigate how we build ourselves from the inside out as we grow up, using elements of places we inhabited as children. I consider what lines the inner walls of our psyches, emotions and remnants of visual bits. In my work, walls represent an allegory of the self. I think of them as versatile constructions containing the contradictions of our human experiences. They are barriers or protections, mirrors or veils, and also non-sentient witnesses of time. They express place, struggle, culture, beliefs, socio-economic backgrounds, taste, aspiration. I use DIY home carpentry materials such as plaster, grout, nets, latex paints, wood panels and other supplies that I incorporate to acrylic, oil paint, collage, wallpaper, charcoal but also fabric and clay, to fabricate walls that encapsulate past memories, revealed, hidden, protected or damaged. The dynamic of “push and pull” is central to my work and emulates an impression of depth that at times suggests there is a potential passage to recovering something lost and at other times that there is a risk of falling through, without return. I also explore configurations of the grid, as a structure and as a pattern. I see materials and textures as a way of embodying the tactility of memories, the impressions and the biochemical changes they trigger in our bodies called “engrams”. I strive to create layers that give out a sense of decay, tactility or longing juxtaposed with observational charcoal drawings, xerox copies or cyanotypes. I project erasure and disappearance, but I also think about strategies to preserve the self by containing and mapping those fragile memories that are the backdrops of our psyches.
Bio
Marie B Gauthiez is a multi-disciplinary French-American artist. Using a mixed media approach, she makes work about mapping of the self, reconstruction, preservation and identity. Marie received her MFA in Studio Art from American University in 2024. She is a faculty member at the Washington Studio School in Washington DC. Recent solo exhibitions include “Jardin Interieur” at Transformer (Washington, DC) and “We Dwell in Between” at Tephra ICA (Reston, VA). She has exhibited in group shows at Stable Arts (DC), Soft Times Gallery (San Francisco), Studio Gallery (DC), Brentwood Arts Exchange (MD), the Anacostia Arts Center (DC), the Katzen Museum (DC), Blue Mountain Gallery (NYC), Pyramid Atlantic (MD), First Street Gallery (NYC), River Arts (SD) and at the Cafritz Arts Foundation at Montgomery College(MD). Recently Marie has had a two-person show at Studio Break (Illinois). Marie’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Soho House at the Ned’s (Washington DC) and GDIT (Virginia headquarters). Marie was awarded the Interlude Residency Support Grant in 2024, the inaugural parent residency at Pocantico Art Center (NY) in July 2025, the Vermont Studio Center residency (March 2026) and she attended the Ragdale Residency in December 2025.
Available works on paper in the Transformer Flat File, at Hamiltonian Artists through Artsy and at Peep Space
CONTACT: mbg3144 at gmail.com
Credit Photo: Vivian Marie Doering