Between Modesty and Admission

Art in a Feminine Perspective 

“Painting someone’s portrait always becomes a self-portrait of the artist who lends to it the virtues he wishes to see in the mirror.”  – Patrick Deville

Softness and sensitivity, plays of light and shadows reminiscent of Renaissance masterpieces: painter Marie Montiel’s creativity is a glorious gift to us all. A body of work full of grace and poetry! A little night music for the eyes! A vision of the human experience expressed with restraint and modesty! Without sentimentality! Without artifice! Marie Montiel is one of those painters blessed with monumental culture. Here is a fresh and acute talent that de-lights us with deliciously intimate canvases that speak to the soul. To achieve this goal, Marie Montiel carefully selects her models, most often among her group of friends: actors, singers and pain- ters, like her.

By Michel Bois

The works of Marie Montiel are available at Galerie d’art Le Vieil Art in Alma, Québec, at Galerie du Lac Brome in Knowlton, Québec, and at Galerie dʼArt Courtemanche in Magog, Québec. 

Spring 2014

Form, Volume and Space 

Born in Barcelona, Xavier Raventós is Catalan, as have been many preceding ge- nerations. Xavier, ‘Javier’ in Spanish, has an Inuit sculptor’s eye who, readying himself to work on bare rock of the Great North, seeks the specific piece of stone that already embodies a bird, another ani- mal or a human form. Others, sculptors and poets, walk the beaches to pick-up whatever the sea has abandoned in the sand such as pieces of driftwood whitened by salt and polished by surf. Xavier Raventós, for his part, collects scrap metal; corroded objects that bear ingrained history which they recount to him, no lon- ger silent witnesses of an ancestral life.  Abonnez-vous au contenu de notre site internet pour lire ce texte. Subscribe to our Website content to read more

By Christiane Frenay

Meeting set-up through the intermediary of Mrs. Anny Alric, Director, organization of Exhibitions at the Médiathèque of Céret, France. 

Capturing what’s Invisible to the Eye

Delight in Discovery 

Rendering the invisible perceptible to others, share with them her sensibilities, what captivates and enchants her, is the artistic path José Duclos has taken and continues to follow with renewed en- thusiasm and happiness. The delicate lightness and translucency of watercolours allow her to express, with equal eloquence, intimacy and outrageousness, shadow and light, fullness and emptiness. She adores the unpredictability of the medium, the effects of colour and water, tonalities that blend on the humid paper and metamor- phose themselves during the drying process. Abonnez-vous au contenu de notre site internet pour lire ce texte. Subscribe to our Website content to read more

By Catherine Guex

joseduclos.com

*Suggested reading: “La passagère du vent”, a fascinating autobiography published by Albin Michel (2003). 

breathes life into Wood
and reincarnates it into Bronze

Thumbnail Sketches 

There is something new in Montreal. Something bold and explosive in talent that makes pedestrians open their eyes wide with delight and automobiles slow down abruptly; something that sprinkles exoticism and magic at the angle of Sherbrooke and Saint-Laurent Streets. Indeed, since November 19th, 2013, a huge siren named Baladi, an impressive and majestic five me- ter sculpture, bedazzles all those who cross her path. Designed and realized by Mon- treal sculptor Joe Jbeily, it spreads out in orange-coloured and sunny cedar wood. Sensually, she unfolds her veil of steel cables, a distinguishing feature of the artist’s work. Installed in front of the premises of the branding Agency TM, whose founder and president is Jbeily, it preluded the inau- guration of the sculptor’s art gallery, Gallery 65, where his work is exhibited.  Abonnez-vous au contenu de notre site internet pour lire ce texte. Subscribe to our Website content to read more

Source : Agence TM

sculpture.joejbeily.com

Gallery

Gallery Portrait 

I have the pleasure of meeting with Chantal Ouellet and Denis Jacques at their Portrait International art gallery in Québec city. Their display walls are different than any I have ever seen as they exclusively feature portraits, nudes and contemporary works of symbolic realism. In fact, as I engage in conversation with Mrs. Ouellet, the emphasis placed here on the academic style of pain- ting becomes instantly apparent. The vocation of the showroom we find ourselves in is definitely to promote a classicist approach to art, one that is being lost.  Abonnez-vous au contenu de notre site internet pour lire ce texte. Subscribe to our Website content to read more

By Robert Lafontaine

An Artist’s Focus

After creating eight new maquettes in the spring of 2013, the last of which was instinctively assembled late one night from leftover strips of Styrofoam, glued together and left on her work table to dry. When Susan received a call to show her sculptures she left this final maquette in the display only to be told that this singular piece, so unlike the others, was the one chosen by the MUCH Art Committee to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lachine hospital and to welcome its presence into the McGill University Health Center. Abonnez-vous au contenu de notre site internet pour lire ce texte. Subscribe to our Website content to read more

By Susan Stromberg

François ouimet, Parti Libéral du Québec. Normand Rinfret, directeur général et CEo du Centre de santé de l’Université McGill Susan Stromberg, sculpteure Claude Dauphin, maire de Lachine
Edgar Rouleau, maire de Dorval 

Living in a Children’s World

On Exhibit 

One day, as children ran out of school, an aspiring artist happened to notice them. Their joy, their lightness of being, their carefree attitude captured her attention and this expression of pure joy became her leitmotiv. 

Pauline Paquin‘s canvases are filled with childhood moments of daily life. Her colourful scenes, with their lot of naivety, are pleasing for the eyes and inevitably generate smiles. “Children colour my life,” says the artist whose career spans three decades. It is the essence of the artist to marvel at mere details that are generally overlooked by the masses. She channels her inspiration onto the canvas, highlighting and sealing her final vision in full colours.  Abonnez-vous au contenu de notre site internet pour lire ce texte. Subscribe to our Website content to read more

By Isabelle Gauthier

Pauline Paquin is represented by:  

 Galerie Pauline T. Paquin, St-Sauveur
Galerie Le Balcon d’Art, Saint-Lambert
Galerie 2000, Montréal
Chase Art Gallery, Beaconsfield
Galerie 88, Vancouver, à Artym, Vancouver
Galerie La Pinsonnière, La Malbaie

Conviviality and joie de vivre

Studio Visite 

Faced with a challenge, Marc St-Jean embarks without reserve into the adventure, unrelenting until his objective is attained.

Under- neath his sober look and apparent calm disposition, coils exuberant energy that unleashes itself whenever a precise goal is in sight. Being an economist by training, the first half of his life is spent in the financial world, a rather arid, cerebral and analytical sphere of activity where creativity holds very little place. Serious and res- ponsible, he first wishes to secure his economic foundation before daring to take the vertiginous leap into a world that, much as the overhang of a cliff, attracts him almost magnetically while being scared of falling off. Hence, when he is finally able to invest himself completely and exclusively into his painting, his need to express himself explodes into as many colours as his until now bridled pas- sion is intense. This newfound freedom enchants him and he starts painting at a frenetic rhythm to feed the multiple galleries that ex- hibit his work and fill the many requests received from art lovers.

Marc St-Jean – Au revoir, 6 x 30 in

Initially, he tries his hand at painting landscapes and abstract works, but when he adds the presence of human figures onto his canvases they soon become an integral part of his signature style. As he loves being in direct contact with the public and with other artists, he participates in a great number of symposiums, through which he starts gaining increasing renown. “I certainly was not expecting such rapid success, and I was overwhelmed by all the love shown to me. Not wanting to disappoint anyone, I worked inces- santly.” Wishing to preserve the full scope of his imagination, Marc St-Jean eventually slows-down the rhythm and henceforth dedicates himself to doing what comes naturally, without obligation or expectations to be met. The self-taught painter mostly fea- tures in his compositions characters that brim with happiness at being in harmonious rapport with one another. “My figures are never sad or alone; they show pleasure in being together, in sharing, which is an essential part of any relationship.”

The painter’s authentic sensibility is noticeably apparent in rather candid scenes where young girls and romantically inclined la- dies, although modern, display their traditional femininity by wearing pretty décolletés, delicate jewellery, lovely hats or ribbons in their hair. While loving couples are frequently at the forefront, his paintings also feature gatherings of friends or family members, or even sporting events, often depicted in a humorous way. In short, celebratory occasions as varied as life can offer such as shared meals, marriages, anniversaries of all kinds, as well as more magical intimate moments between two people. The ambiance is always happy; moroseness is absent even when it rains as it is evident that the multicoloured umbrellas are there only in passing, optimistically predicting clearer weather to come.

Marc St-Jean – Que nous deux, 36 x 60 po

Although some plays of shadow may be detected, the vibrant colours, uniformly applied, contribute to the ever present joyful at- mosphere that reigns everywhere, a parcel of gaiety being attribu- ted to each element of the composition. ‘Joie de vivre’ explodes throughout the simple shapes while the smooth non textured surface lets the pupil slide effortlessly from one line to the other. The artist also carefully selects titles for his works as they constitute an added element, one that will complete the overall effect for each of his creations. “It’s important for me that the titles be in accordance with the emotional charge of the work. They are means of understanding that contribute to the elaboration of individual scenarios.”

Marc St-Jean – Battements de cœur, 24 x 36 in

So that spectators may perceive in them a portion of their own history, his somewhat, at first glance, naive beings remain timeless, harbouring neutral, lightly sketched, facial features. Interpretations hence may be multiplied according to the spectator’s own feelings and souvenirs, and welcome whatever personal reverie. The artist has no intention to specifically depict anyone in particular but ra- ther wishes for everyone to be drawn into the painting. “I love dis- cussing my works with people to find out what they see in them, what emotion they feel, what sparks in their memory upon viewing them.” Being enlightened with someone else’s vision may gear the creator towards further self-discovery and lead him to perceive as- pects of his own subconscious as revealed through someone else’s experience. This type of dialogue between mental picture and rea- lity, where borders draw closer together through sentiment, re- sembles the one that exists between perception of self and of the other, bearing witness to those links that unite us as humanity. Marc St-Jean adopts a visual language that is boundless and favours tacit relationships among pure unknowns experiencing a common vibration that is set in matter, mind and heart.

Marc St-Jean – Des mots qui font du bien, 24 x 36 in

The painter, along with a colleague of his, is presently busy with the organization of the “Lumières sur l’art” symposium that will group some forty artists and will be held in June at Quartier Dix 30 in Brossard. “I am of the opinion that art must become accessible to all, including the part of the population that doesn’t frequent art galleries or other habitual areas of distribution.” Marc St-Jean inc- reasingly favours large formats, as unique pieces but also as dip- tychs or triptychs, which procure him greater satisfaction and helps alleviate his concern for detail. His wish is to be able to combine ever more abstract backgrounds with his well-defined subjects in the foreground, and to continue to amuse himself by placing his characters in various local and foreign environments.[/restrict]

By Lisanne LeTellier

Marc St-Jean’s works are found at Galerie Médius in Marché Bonsecours, Montréal, at the Château Bromont art gallery, as well as at the Quatre Saisons gallery in Québec City. 

In terms of National patrimony it looks as if this spring will bring in a bumper crop. In beautiful Quebec City the Musee National des beaux arts has been in the process of reorganizing itself with a new pavilion being due in 2015.

In the meantime a certain reshuffling has already taken place and the MNBAQ is reopening the Charles Baillairge Pavillion af ter restoring it, with four exhibitions in gal- leries dedicated to the following Quebec modern masters: Jean-Paul Lemieux: Of Si- lence and Space; Alfred Pellan: The Wide Awake Dreamer; Fernand Leduc: Painter of Light; and Jean-Paul Riopelle: Metamorphoses. The museum is also creating a permanent exhibition for Leduc, the first time the artist has been so honoured.

The exhibition offers lovers of Quebec modern art the opportunity to see several masterpieces which are currently held by private hands but which have been leant to the museum for a limited time.

These include Jean-Paul Lemieux’s Julie et L’universe, 1965, and 1910 remembered, 1962 which will be on view until June 30, 2014. As well Alfred Pellan’s most impres- sive murals, Canada Est and Canada Ouest, 1943, will be shown in Quebec for the first time since they were commissioned by the federal government in 1943.

Spring 2014

There’s no place like Ottawa in the spring, especially if the tulips are out. If you need a reason to visit, The Charles Edenshaw exhibition that wowed Vancouver has picked up stakes and moved to the National Gallery of Canada and will be showing from March 7 to May 25, 2014.

Edenshaw lived from 1829 to 1920. He was descended from a long line of Haida carvers and in turn his descendents, ran- ging from Bill Reid to James Hart, are among the most distinguished Haida carvers of their day. He worked with wood, silver, argillite and painted the hats his wife wove.

He combined traditional Haida design with an innovative and elegant personal style that helped raise Northwest Coast art to new heights. The exhibition consists of more than 80 works that have been bor- rowed from public and private collections across North America.

Haida art is one of the most powerful art forms that this country has ever given birth to. If you are at all interested in design this exhibition is a must see.

Also on at the NGC’s Rideau Chapel is Janet Cardiff: 40-Part Motet. The sound sculpture is a reworking of Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis a 16th-century English composer in which 40 individually recorded choir voices are played through 40 speakers positioned around the chapel. The only way I can imagine this is as if you were standing or sitting in an audience and the performers were placed throughout the crowd.