Artworks by Katherine Duclos

1. Katherine Duclos
https://www.katherineduclos.com/

2. I began working with LEGO
bricks as a medium in my art
practice in 2021 after
embracing my then 4 year old’s
deep interest in building LEGO
sets with me by his side.

3. I have trouble with instructions
because my neurodivergent
brain often flips the diagrams
and I can’t spatially orient
myself, leading to lots of
mistakes, or being incapable of
helping my son correct
mistakes.

4. At the time, though, he needed
parallel play with me and one
day handed me four pieces put
together and said, “I thought
you’d like these colours next to
each other.” I did.

5. In that moment, I realised that I
did not have to build
representational objects by a
set of rules I couldn’t
understand, but could instead
use LEGO bricks as pieces of
modular colour for abstract
constructions, helping me
regulate and process the
intense sensory overload I
experience daily as an Autistic
person with ADHD.

6. Not only could I use LEGO
bricks similarly to bits of
coloured paper or paint, it is a
dry medium, which is far
preferable for me because of
my sensory issues. I do
frequently paint the bricks
using spray paint, but not
always.

23. This group of work is
made with puff paint
and enamel paint on
LEGO bases attached
to panels and then
framed.

27. The use of window
screen is conceptually
and materially based.
The visual effect of
layering screens
recalls childhood
memories of staring
out the window and
letting the outside
world blur…

34. The bubbles have not
been popped. The paint is
on the outside, multiple
layers for adhesion. Some
get coated in resin. Some
are hung from grommets.
All take hyper focus and a
very long time to paint.

35. Embedded in this work is
a focus on tactility and the
sensory response we
have to materials we
deeply want to touch, but
maybe can’t.

36. Upstate New York

38. Vancouver

39. That Lonely October Drive