Contemporary realism
“Painting is my vocation and my avocation. It is a love of my life. It has never really been work to me. It is my most sincere pleasure and challenge, a series of puzzles to solve. I believe that there are no Painting Police and I can experiment, improvise and create and, no matter the result, it is the process that really counts, so I am always and forever, very, very fine. I also believe there are no bad paintings: they are just not yet finished.” – Valerie Kent
Painting is my vocation and my avocation. It is a love of my life. It has never really been work to me. It is my most sincere…
On the Web features inspiring artists who use social media and various sharing platforms for the purpose of promoting their art on the Internet.
Born in Jonquière, Québec, Patrice Cantin obtains his BA in Visual and Media Arts from Université du Québec à Montréal in 2002. As part of his studies, the artist explores an inter-disciplinary approach to painting, often integrating music and performance aspects. This academic research laid out the premises of his present corpus.
The artist’s desire to paint is initiated by the recollection of a composition and a colour. These abstractions carry a load of ideas, of concepts accumulated overtime and stored throughout the channels of his creative memory. “I don’t take notes. Shapes, atmospheres, colours, contrasts are all stacked-up in my mind.” The artist starts painting without any definite plan of execution, rather relying on instinct. The narrative materializes as he works, and, from these spontaneous movements, from these medium overlays, from this distinctive gestural technique, a ‘Cantin’ comes to life.
Oily Selfie
Tell us about your choice of medium?
C.: I am presently working with oil and oil sticks. I rarely use any tools other than my hands and the painting knife.
How would you describe your work in a 140 characters tweet, hashtags included?
C.: #Cantin artist painter #abstract portraits, semi-figurative work featuring light and plays on shadows and spots.
How important is it for an artist to have a website and be present on social media?
C.: A presence online is today extremely important, essential even. My website is my business card! To all those people I don’t have the opportunity to meet or that do not visit my studio, a personal website is a good way to show my work. Social media allow me to share my work and promote it to those people who are outside our usual circles of friends.
Pablo Picasso
Have you called on professional help for your website’s design and programming?
C.: I myself am webmaster and programmer. It’s what I do to make ends meet. I conceive and design my own things as I wish!
What would you recommend for artists who still do not have a website and whose budget is rather limited?
C.: A good number of platforms exist today that allow one to set-up a website without requiring any particular knowledge. However, one must put-in the time needed. Taking good photographs is essential.
At what frequency do you update your website?
C.: Every time I have a new painting, I update my website.
How much time, on a professional basis, are you investing in social media?
C.: Hum… I may appear addicted, but I spend a great deal of time in front of my monitor promoting my paintings. It’s constantly ongoing. If I added-up the moments spent in one day, I would say it totalled between 3 and 5 hours.
Neon Boss
What impact has social media had on your career?
C.: I sell 90% of my work on the web. 75% on Facebook. It’s a powerful platform for one who knows how to use it effectively.
If you could recommend one inspirational website to other artists, which one would it be?
C.: For inspiration, I sometimes visit Etsy.com. A good number of creators frequent the site and it’s a nice window where you can refresh the creative side of your brain whenever it fails you.
What are your forthcoming projects for the next 6 months or more? Any exhibitions, artist residency, or training sessions planned?
C.: I am presently working on large size triptychs that will be both streamlined and tumultuous. I will be exhibiting my work in Toronto in September during the Toronto Outdoor Art event. In 2016, I will be present at Galerie Carte Blanche with a solo exhibition.
Text by Isabelle Gagné
The following links will allow you to follow Cantin on the Web and stay connected with the artist:
Official Website: galeriecantin.com
Facebook: facebook.com/galeriecantin
Twitter: twitter.com/lecantin
Instagram: instagram.com/lecantin/
YouTube: youtube.com/user/lecantin/
We also invite you to stay connected with Magazin’Art on our various media:
Official Website: magazinart.com
Twitter: twitter.com/magazinart
Facebook: facebook.com/magazinart
Pinterest: pinterest.com/magazinart
Born in Jonquière, Québec, Patrice Cantin obtains his BA in Visual and Media Arts from Université du Québec à Montréal in 2002…
Great Encounter
“The role of the artist is essentially to channel humanity’s narrative!” – Cocteau
It’s an extremely warm July Friday. The sun is at its zenith way across the field. Haystacks are gathered near the studio-home located a short distance from the village, away from the road and from time itself. Monet, the painter of light, would be delighted.
Text by Michel Bois
It’s an extremely warm July Friday. The sun is at its zenith way across the field. Haystacks are gathered near the studio-home located a short…
On Exhibit
Maurice Louis is a self-taught Canadian artist of French origin who exercises his freedom and affirms his originality. Distancing himself from the rigors of academism, he disregards any form of convention and follows no set rule to attain his desired result.
Text by Hélène Caroline Fournier
Maurice Louis is a self-taught Canadian artist of French origin who exercises his freedom and affirms his originality. Distancing himself from the rigors…
Art in a Feminine Perspective
“The scent of flowers like the fragrant notes of a work of art created in joy, are filled with stratagems. If you neglect your flowers or your artworks, know that they will still spill their secrets to the wind.” – Louise de Vilmorin
Text by Michel Bois
Élène Gamache is represented by: Galerie Jean-Pierre Valentin, Montréal, Québec; L’Harmatan, Baie-Saint-Paul, Québec; West-End Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta; Roberts Gallery, Toronto, Ontario; Galerie Saint-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario
Élène Gamache est représentée par : Galerie Jean-Pierre Valentin, Montréal, Québec ; L’Harmatan, Baie-Saint-Paul, Québec ; West-End Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta ; Roberts Gallery, Toronto, Ontario ; Galerie Saint-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario
Artist Élène Gamache is an example of sensitivity and perseverance. From the art of monumental tapestry to the art of painting, her creativity rests…
Painting a Country
Thirty years ago, candy pink or purple trees where hardly ever seen in paintings, as elements of composition rather aimed at depicting reality without too much whim or fancy. If landscape artists’ pictorial propositions ablaze with colours are today less rare, the fact remains that Yvon St-Aubin was one of the first to dare use strong colour values to illustrate our countryside in his own particular way, thus incorporating a breath of modernism into a niche essentially linked to tradition.
Text by Lisanne LeTellier
Yvon St-Aubin is represented by the Beauchamp Galleries in Québec and in Baie-St-Paul, as well as by Galerie Céleste in St-Sauveur, Galerie O en arts in St-Hyacinthe, the Chase Art Gallery in Beaconsfield and Galerie du Coin in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
Thirty years ago, candy pink or purple trees where hardly ever seen in paintings, as elements of composition rather aimed at depicting…
Forms, Volume and Space
Time – a precious resource if ever there was one! It slips through the fingers of some while others have too much of it on their hands. And yet, we all share a fleeting existence in this world where technology is meant to save us time while, paradoxically, Man has never lacked so much of it, has never seemed so out-of-breath, so hurried.
Text by Dominic Villeneuve
In Québec, Nicole Taillon is represented by Galerie Richelieu (Saint Denis Street, Montréal), by Galerie Jeannine-Blais (North Hatley) and by Galerie Carpe Diem (Magog).
Time – a precious resource if ever there was one! It slips through the fingers of some while others have too much of it on their hands. And yet…
Delight in Discovery
Immersing oneself into Diane Coudé’s paintings is like strolling along a quiet pathway, away from the crowd. Her intimate interiors, bathed in diffuse enveloping light, are alcoves of calm and tranquility, conducive to contemplation. One can almost hear the clock’s ticking and the cat’s purr.
Texte by Isabelle Gauthier
Immersing oneself into Diane Coudé’s paintings is like strolling along a quiet pathway, away from the crowd. Her intimate interiors, bathed in…
Portrait
A Great Success Story
An art gallery, a family history, a passionate enterprise! Le Balcon d’art celebrates its 30th anniversary with pride, and rightly so: not everyone can sustain the delicate equation of sensitivity, good business sense and knowledge of the arts.
Texte by Isabelle Gauthier
An art gallery, a family history, a passionate enterprise! Le Balcon d’art celebrates its 30th anniversary with pride, and rightly so…
From October 17, 2015 to January 31, 2016 the Glenbow Museum in Calgary is exhibiting David Thauberger: Road Trips and Other Diversions.
Thauberger is the kind of artist whose work can be described as delightful. While that description may be the kiss of death in some critical circles his work conveys a sense of spontaneity and purity that brings a smile to mind.
His work borders on the naive except that his colours are too true, they punch above their weight and his use of colour is very sophisticated. What he does share with most naive art is a flattened perspective.
Thauberger’s subjects are with the exception of the odd landscape or two are commonplace prairie structures: Legion halls, grain elevators, corner stores and small town bungalows. There is a use of heightened colour that adds a magical characteristic to his work that is quite enchanting and special.
Autumn 2015
From October 17, 2015 to January 31, 2016 the Glenbow Museum in Calgary is exhibiting David Thauberger: Road Trips and Other Diversions…
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting, The 1920’s Modernism in Montreal The Beaver Hall Group from October 24, 2013 to January 31, 2016.
The Beaver Hall Group is often thought of as a group of women artists but that is due to a mistake made by a travelling exhibition some time ago. Let’s face it, if you were a group of women artists, would you elect A. Y. Jackson as your first president?
Some would say that the Beaver Hall Group is to Montreal as the Group of Seven was to Toronto and there is some truth to that. With Jackson as its first president both groups obviously intermingled and the Group of Seven often incorporated work from the Beaver Hall Group when their work went on travelling exhibitions.
To wrap up the connection, when the Group of Seven decided to call it a day and members went on to form the Canadian Group of Painters, painters from Beaver Hall joined them.
The exhibition is made up of work by group members and friends and includes Emily Coonan, Adrien and Henri Hebert, Prudence Heward, Randolph Hewton, Edwin Holgate, A.Y. Jackson, Robert Pilot, Andre Bieler and others.
Autumn 2015
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting, The 1920’s Modernism in Montreal The Beaver Hall Group from October 24, 2013 to January 31, 2016…
From October 29, 2015 to March 27 2016 The Quebec National Museum of Fine Art will be presenting, A Private Passion, Modern Art in Quebec from the Pierre Lassonde Collection.
Pierre Lassonde is a successful mining developer and a noted philanthropist. As such he has had the means to collect the very best when it comes to Quebec art. On display will be a hundred key paintings from the history of modern Quebec art. Some of the artists whose work will be displayed include Marc Aurèle Fortin, Clarence Gagnon, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Côté, Helen McNicoll, Paul-Émile Borduas, Marcelle Ferron, Jean-Paul Lemieux and Jean-Paul Riopelle.
From October 29, 2015 to March 27 2016 The Quebec National Museum of Fine Art will be presenting, A Private Passion, Modern Art…
From October 2 to January 11, 2015, The Beaverbrook Art Gallery will be presenting Lucy Jarvis Even Stones Have Life. Jarvis died in 1985 and didn’t begin to blossom until late in life after she stepped down in 1960 from the University of New Brunswick Art Centre which she cofounded. Then she began to take extensive trips to France and liberated her art from the strictures she had learned as a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Her work is impressionistic and postimpressionistic and brings light into vision. It deserves a wider audience.
Autumn 2015
From October 2 to January 11, 2015, The Beaverbrook Art Gallery will be presenting Lucy Jarvis Even Stones Have Life…