An Interview with Izzy Bouric

Ripple Verse Gallery (RVG): You were born in France but grew up in London, how does that in-between-ness show up in your work, consciously or not?

Izzy Bouric (IB): I think it does place me in a kind of outsider role, I’m always aware of the external view of a culture and I find myself contextualising more than connecting. I maybe don’t feel as much attachment to cultural markers for this reason, or don’t feel represented by them, so I don’t tend to use imagery in a symbolic way. My work is less about showing objects or people that represent me, but more about having a unilateral approach to inspiration and putting whatever jumps out at me into a state of motion or tension to try to inhabit the experience. I’m really not romantic about my identity in that way, I always leave the door open to uncertainty.

RVG: Does Paris feel different to work in than London? Does the city get inside the work?

IB: Absolutely, the lifestyle is completely different. To me, Paris is night time and London is day time. I had a more immediate relationship to the work in Paris, whereas meaning is often lost in London. But it can feel stifling sometimes. Spin Spin Sugar is about going out with urgency in the cacophony of bars to drink and smoke - Tumblr Porn is about crossing distances in London to find meaning, which I suppose gives you more time to reflect on what you’re doing. Different ways to lose yourself.

RVB: You work across oil paint, pastel, charcoal, and sculptural assemblage — is there a medium where you feel most like yourself, and why? 

IB: Drawing comes the most naturally to me as I’ve been doing it the longest, and I think everything else I do grows out of the logic of drawing. The idea of a process of thinking in tune with your hand and body, building up lines and shapes, and . I learned from painting to surrender to the unexpected, but I find it a much more fickle process as it’s so easy to look like you don’t know what you’re doing.

RVB: Mark-making in tune with the nervous system" is a striking phrase ,  are you describing something that happens automatically, or something you have to consciously access?

IB: I think a bit of both, it’s all about being to recognise what you need when you need it. I had a period of time where I thought being “automatic” was somehow deeper and more “true”, but when you do that you hit a ceiling really fast as you neglect the intention you need to develop your work further. But then if you over-think everything and try to control it the work comes out sterile. I think you can access the nervous system by paying attention to it but there are all sorts of factors that get in the way of that, so a lot of my process is really about catching the moment when it works. I’m trying to let it take me somewhere where I can be more okay with my intuition. So it’s kind of about making art and also kind of about having that feedback loop back to myself.

RVB: The title Tumblr Porn is provocative alongside something like Gone Forever — how intentional is that tonal range, and what are you trying to unsettle?

IB: Definitely intentional. I think truth can be not just a descriptor but an intervention into an un-reality. Sometimes it’s not just about describing your reality or feelings but being self-aware about what it really is about your experience that challenges a wider narrative, like being a teenage girl watching Tumblr porn and figuring out the world by running around London at night. So much of life is trying to bridge the gap between who we are and who we think we should be, it can feel liberating to come back to a baseline and find the meaning in that. It’s another thing I look for in the work and I find it now and again.

RVB: Your figures often feel caught between states — sleeping, falling, being watched, being held. Do you think of your paintings as moments, or as conditions?

IB: I think because I live so much in my head, I imagine things outside of space and time, in a dreamlike state, and that’s what I’m describing. I think it can be tempting to think of life like a machine that happens outside of yourself, but really life is coming from you and it’s the dream you’re living. I just make work in that space. I also make the paintings in one go over a few hours and rarely go back to them, they either work or they don’t, so I stake a lot in the moment in the process too. Maybe I’m describing my mood whilst I’m making them.

RVB:Where do you think this practice is going?  what are you not yet able to make but can feel coming

IB: I kind of had a euphemistic approach to what I made in art school. I think working through that it built up that ability to talk about, or not talk about, difficult things, and be able to let go more. I think I’ve finally started to get there, and the next body of work will be a development of the interrogation of the object of the painting, filtered through the nervous system, filtered through the world at large. So more mixed media, more freedom in the marks and maybe more arresting and personal imagery. I feel so much more comfortable making that sort of stuff now that I’ve built up the language for it. Hopefully all the work will mean it will be impactful and add something to the world!

RVB: You graduated in 2023 and have already had a solo show, an Arts Council grant, and a Paris residency ,what has surprised you most about life as a working artist?

IB: How much you have to carry heavy stuff around! And find places to put it! Also how sporadic opportunities can be. You definitely have to trust the process. But it’s such a rewarding lifestyle, because you get to be pulled forward by your obsession with creating, and I have discovered that actually a lot of people don’t know what their passion is, so I feel grateful to have that to take me through life. Recently I’ve been letting go a bit more and trying to just enjoy it. Realistically, if you don’t have a financial support system, you have times when you look at yourself and think - I’m making no money from this, it’s hard, it’s uncertain, I know people who have normal jobs and are going on holiday, making money - do I really want this for myself? But then, as cliche as it is, I don’t see any other way for myself. 

RVB: Which living artists genuinely awestruck/inspire you with how good they are?

IB: It changes literally all the time! In terms of painters, I’m a fan of Ambera Wellmann at the moment, I think the worlds she’s able to create are so delicious and I keep her in the back of my mind at the moment. I like Doron Langberg for the sheer freedom of his brushstrokes. I think I generally get inspired by people who seem to be creative in a way that’s uninhibited, and although I love painters I try not to let them get in my head too much so I’m not just copying stuff I like. 

RVB: Your statement is quite inward-looking:  memory, grieve, the subconscious, the nervous system. But your work also gets exhibited, sold, talked about. How do you hold that tension between the private origin and the public life of a painting?

It’s actually the hardest part and has been one of the biggest things for me to overcome. I didn’t even realise I painted quite sad stuff for a long time. I think I’m just more comfortable letting the work speak for itself. At the end of the day, the work is made in one contemplative moment, so it doesn’t represent me all the time. I’m so inspired by artists who can bare their feelings to the world, it’s a function of art and it makes the world a better place, so I’m just trying to be a part of that and embrace it. 

RVB: What do you think you're avoiding in your work?

IB: Everything I haven’t made yet…