Justine Roland-Cal is a self-taught artist who has been painting for twenty years. She began to make art at a time in her life when the action of expression through painting provided a new direction and form of interaction with the world around her. She has since developed a body of work both figurative and abstract which identifies many aspects of her own life, her daily encounters and her political voice. She makes work that explores very diverse aspects of living. Many of her paintings represent a personal response to what concerns her as a woman and a humanitarian. She has often used found materials such as pieces of wood, discarded doors and large scale canvasses. She has a striking use of colour, which prevails in huge ecstatic canvases of abstract expressionism and insightful documentation.
She began to exhibit in 1994 and since has exhibited in numerous cultural centres and galleries in Paris where she lived for 15 years.
Whilst developing as an artist Justine has worked in diverse areas including street theatre as a clown and fire eater. For three years she worked as an assistant to a fabric buyer at Kenzo in Paris. She was heavily inspired by the exposure to archives of fabrics from all over the world which had been collected since the sixties.
On moving to England she began working on socially motivated projects with homeless and people with dependency problems.
Within the current tendencies of contemporary art Justine Roland-Cal continues to experiment both in her chosen medium of painting and now in black and white photography. Her photography is a collection of spontaneous portraits of unusual characters and street documentation often concentrating on alternative society.
In 2006 she had a major retrospective of her work at Novas Gallery which followed her history of painting through her photography and on site installations.
Press:
London Artist Quarter
Waltham Forest Guardian
Detention Action event and report
In my block at the Hackney Gazette
Exhibitions
Vinyl Heads Gallery | Ramsgate, UK | Solo show | Apr-2021 |
Chats Palace | London, UK | Solo show | Dec-2020 |
La Marzocco Shoreditch | London, UK | Solo show | Dec-2019 |
Red Bull selected photographer from museum of youth archive | UK | Award | Aug-2019 |
Stoke Newington Library Gallery | London UK | Solo show | 2018 |
Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts | Glasgow UK | Group show | 2016 |
Photomonth, Rich Mix Gallery, Bethnal Green | London UK | Group show | 2015 |
Lumen Gallery, Kings Cross | London UK | Solo show | 2015 |
Espacio gallery | London UK | Group show | 2014 |
Dance and Disobedience, Rich Mix gallery, Bethnal Green | London UK | Group Show | 2013 |
Bricklane Art Auction, Blackall Studios, Shoreditch | London UK | 2013 | |
Impact Art fair Brixton | London UK | 2013 | |
Ephesus, Broadway Market | London UK | Solo show | 2011 |
Our Space Gallery | London UK | Group Show | 2008 |
Vyner Street Gallery | London UK | Group Show | 2008 |
Major retrospective: Paintings, Photography, Installation, Novas Gallery London Bridge | London UK | Solo Show | 2007 |
Stages Exhibition, Victoria and Albert museum and Hackney Empire collaboration | London UK | Group Show | 2006 |
Office of Deputy Prime Minister | London UK | Group Show | 2006 |
Inspired Art Fair International Raw Arts Festival | London UK | Group Show | 2005 |
Diorama Gallery | London UK | Group Show | 2004 |
73rd Gallery | London UK | Group Show | 2001 |
Hidden Art of Hackney | London UK | Group Show | 1999 – 2001 |
Stoke Newington Festival | London UK | Group Show | 1998 – 2001 |
Organisation for SOS Racism, Ethnic minorities without papers, Solidarity for Refugees | Paris, France | Solo Show | 1997 – 1998 |
Gallery Neuilly | Paris, France | Solo Show | 1997 |
Gallery Renaud Richard Marais | Paris, France | Solo Show | 1996 |
Hospital Rothchild | Paris, France | Solo Show | 1996 |
Salon Vitry | Paris, France | Solo Show | 1995 |
Gallery de Centre Culturel Colombes | Paris, France | Solo Show | 1995 |
Jazz Festival Theatre Armand Bejart | Paris, France | Solo Show | 1995 |
International Artists | Belfast UK | Group Show | 1995 |
Site de Creation Franche | Begles, France | Group show | 1994 |
Prizes
Salon Asnieres | 1st prize | 1995 | |
Salon Colombes | 1st prize | 1994 |
Publications
Catalogue de la Creation Franche Begles |
Big Issue |
East End to Valencia By Justine Roland Cal (2015) |
Detention Action Publication(2016): Portraits of men who had experienced detention within the UK |
Justine is a London based artist and available for commission