Rosa Joly
Rosa Joly was born in France in 1986.
Rosa Joly boldly practices the art of diverting materials and uses. A talented matchmaker, she provokes unusual encounters that give rise to a multitude of material and sensory, tactile and visual altercations. In her polymorphic work, the most naturally fragile elements (raw earth, dried flowers…) interact with industrially produced materials and accessories (embossed polyester velvet, aluminum foil, prank skeleton…). This mixture of found objects, most often drawn from popular culture, and raw materials is reminiscent of the libertarian momentum of Funk Art and the joyfully grimacing spirit of the Rat Bastard Protective Association, in a tradition specific to post-war Californian art.
As the instigator of a world where the aesthetics of the funfair meet that of the Danse Macabre, halfway between a haunted house and a funeral chapel, Rosa Joly creates environments that often aim to physically surpass the spectator. Offering an immersive experience, as a defense against indifference, her installations almost inevitably absorb visitors, who find themselves trapped in these interior scenographies. To this end, the devices she implements are multiple and always sensitively adapted to the spaces that temporarily host her chronic nomadism: the production and dissemination of fragmentary mirrors that momentarily capture the spectators’ reflection, the creation of foldable frescoes of extravagant dimensions, retractable and arbitrary porticos—so many thresholds to be crossed. The spectator must thus engage personally, being forced to contribute the anonymous stone of their transient presence to the edifice of this ephemeral hall of mirrors.
Rosa Joly lives and works in various places and employs a wide variety of techniques. After studying literature and social sciences, she studied at the Beaux-Arts de Lyon and then at the Kunsthochschule in Hamburg. Fascinated by American counterculture and particularly by the community of Beat artists and poets active in San Francisco after World War II, she dedicated several years to research on the work of Californian artist Jay DeFeo. Recent exhibitions of her work include: Ophelia Vertikale, MoM Artspace, Hamburg (2019); Enquête Arcane, DOC!, Paris (2019); and the 16mm screening of The Eye, The Asshole, My Sister (2019), a film made with Anaëlle Vanel.
