Portraying the strength and vulnerability of women
- Agnès Robin
- vor 24 Stunden
- 5 Min. Lesezeit
Interview with artist Agnès Robin
1. Please tell us something about your background and your art journey so far.
Since I was very young, I have always been attracted to drawing and painting. When I emigrated to Canada, to relieve my boredom, I drew portraits of the children I was babysitting. Then, I had to work to pay my rent... So, I did all sorts of odd jobs before returning to school and specializing in Presentation Design. I was in a creative field and I liked it. But, to satisfy my thirst for art, I traveled to the many openings in Montreal. And one day, I wanted to create a portrait, to try to do what I wanted, what I had in mind. And, I never let go of my brushes !
2. Describe what a normal day looks like as an artist.
Every morning, I get up around 9am (I'm a night owl!) I have breakfast with my boyfriend and I answer my Facebook users. I share an hour with my mom on WhatsApp (she's in France and I'm in Canada). And only after that, my artistic day begins. Every day, I paint between 4am and 7am. If I'm not painting, I have to do something related to my art. Varnish, wrap, bring a painting to my gallery... When I go on vacation, I bring canvases to make portraits only in B&W so as not to overload myself. For only a year, I've been giving myself days off.
3. Can you tell us more about the theme in your art and your inspiration?
Since my first works, I dedicate a preponderant place to the human being in the heart of my paintings. Self-taught, I paint, in my studio at Terrasse Vaudreuil, portraits that are primarily acrylic and in which I insert mixed media (gold leaf or collages).
It is through the gesture and the transposition of the material on the canvas that I give a distinctive signature to my new series focused on emotions. Using the B & W for the face, I invite the viewer to enter my works to vibrate to the rhythm of the colors of his own emotions. These faces, mainly feminine, stand out as engines of dialogue with the viewer. The presence of the soul is materialized through the subject, enhanced by the surrounding colors.
We all love stories and it is the ability of the portrait to allow us to weave one. I thus invite the viewer to invent his own story in the face of this stolen moment, this fugitive moment taken from the heart of a life and to capture the similarities that resonate within us.
These are my questions and my questioning of the news about the place and respect for women and all vulnerable living beings that push me to create. Faced with an external world that is both brutal and beautiful, I aim to present combative and strong women, while revealing their great inner emotional conflict. Often trapped by their own feelings ... It is a constant tug between strength and vulnerability, coldness and sensitivity, well-being and guilt.
My involvement is also ecological: I raise themes such as the disappearance of species, the importance of caring for our animal world and the respect that every living being deserves. I like to create a complicity between my portraits and selected animals, highlighting the importance of our inter-relationships.
What I see on TV, what I read in magazines and newspapers, what I experienced during my many travels around the world and in my private life, the other artists, are all sources of inspiration to allow me to pass an emotion through the image that I create to arouse a reaction in the one who looks. Each painting is thus a new beginning, a new way (voice) to express how I feel.
4. How does your art life impact other parts of your life?
Painting is like breathing for me now! So, it definitely impacts my everyday life. I have a visceral need to paint, it calms me, I feel like I exist when I paint. My personal life is modeled on my life as an artist and luckily, I have a boyfriend who understands that and gives me a lot of latitude and freedom, he doesn't really have a choice!!! Ha ha ha!!!
5. Could you share any difficulties and hardships you had to face in life and how or if you managed/overcame them?
I have always thought that the difficulties we encounter on the path of life are there to make us grow and make us realize that we are perhaps not on the right path... I came to painting following an accident that stuck me in bed for 3 months (I broke my heel bone falling 10 feet high from a boat onto the sand). I lost my job (I was self-employed). So, I asked myself what am I going to do with this long convalescence? And I decided to challenge myself to do a portrait a day. This is how I greatly improved my painting skills.
6. Tell us about your best experience in the art world so far.
At the beginning of 2025, I held a solo exhibition that I had been preparing for a year. I pushed myself to the limit, telling myself that I didn't want to be influenced by what people would think. And it was a success! I sold 3/4 of my paintings. And that was the most beautiful art experience I've had so far. All that love received during that short time, the time of a private view, was very intense :-)
7. Tell us about your best experience in the art world so far.
Thanks, I didn't have any.
8. What practical advice can you give to fellow artists?
It's difficult to give advice to artists. Each of us has our own way of doing things. But if I had to give advice to beginner artists, I would tell them to paint every day to improve their art and to persevere despite the doors that may close in your face. I firmly believe that if you create with passion and deeply love what you do, it shows and the public reacts positively.
9. Is the artist life lonely? Please share your thoughts and experiences.
Yes and no. Yes, I am alone when I am in my studio creating. Or when I am on my computer making sketches on Photoshop, because no one can get into my head. And no, when I exhibit, because I talk and share my vision with many people. I am also a very social person and I am very interested in my fellow artists. So, I get in touch with them, I meet them, I continue to go to many openings. Creation can also be collective. During my exhibition "Les Auréolées" I happened to create 27 portraits to which 27 artists came to graft their mark. It was very enriching! Each artist chooses to live their creativity. I need interactions. I regularly ask my boyfriend to come down to my studio to tell me what he thinks of what I am painting... It's my slightly insecure side...
10. What are you working on at the moment and are there any upcoming events you would like to talk about?
Currently, I'm working on improving my style, making it even more unique and recognizable. I created, for the first time in my life, two murals in collaboration with an artist from my region. They will be unveiled in June. It was a wonderful experience, and I hope to create more. Otherwise, I have several group exhibitions planned in Quebec.
Website: https://www.agnesrobin.com/
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/agnesrobinart/
