Young Painters and Their Collectors

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

Curator: Réal Lussier

Saturday, March 9 to Saturday, April 20 avril, 2013

Opening and catalogue launch
Saturday, march 23, at 3 pm

Works from Hugo Bergeron, Jérôme Bouchard, Anthony Burnham, Péio Eliceiry, Dil Hildebrand, Chris Kline, Daniel Lahaise, Daniel Langevin, Jean-François Lauda, Alexis Lavoie, Mathieu Lefevre, Jennifer Lefort, Luce Meunier, Natalie Reis, François Simard and Justin Stephens

“ The exhibition Young Painters and Their Collectors aims to highlight the commitment and support of collectors for present-day painting by assembling works by young Quebec-based painters widely recognized for the quality of their art. Within this relatively modest presentation, we have opted to consider a selection of artists whose careers were launched during the past decade. While some of them already have an impressive resume, other, more recent practitioners have also made their mark. As for the collectors associated with the exhibition through the loan of their acquisitions, their respective profiles and aesthetic choices reflect a diversity of views, interests and sensitivities. All devotees of present-day art, all attuned to the work of young painters, they present a varied picture of the collection owner, comprising a collective, well known, experienced art lovers and relatively young enthusiasts who have developed their passion over the past few years.

Unlike museums, which have been fairly timid and circumspect when it comes to acquiring the work of young painters, collectors have been quick to spot promising talent, demonstrating discernment, openness and, at times, even audacity. The Quebec painting landscape is rich and complex. Inspired and nourished by highly diverse sources, young painters are interested in revisiting and questioning the particularities of the different avant-gardes that marked the second half of the twentieth century and in redefining painting’s specificity in relation to other practices, such as photography. As a result, their work exhibits a multiplicity of styles, viewpoints and subject matter. Some approaches contain elements of figuration, while others adopt abstraction, either gestural, somewhat geometric or a mixture of both. Some also borrow from multiple vocabularies at once or show affinities with a conceptual approach.

Echoing the situation on the international scene, present-day painting in Quebec is stamped with the hallmark of diversity. All pictorial genres, it seems, can coexist without discrimination, but some will stand out from the others for their ability to impose a language and an argument that remain relevant over time. Collectors, like exhibition curators and art critics, undeniably contribute to shaping critical judgment in regard to artists’ approaches and the quality of their work, just as they occasionally can enhance promotion and recognition in the public sphere. The collectors who have assisted with this exhibition plainly share the same convictions as to the value of young painters’ work. ”

Extracts from Réal Lussier’s text / Exhibition catalog Young Painters and Their Collectors


Acknowledgments

Plein sud warmly thank the commissioner Réal Lussier for his contribution to this exhibition and publication project, as well as collectors for the lending of their works and the participating artists for their valuable collaborations.

This project was carried out within the Entente administrative sur le développement de la culture pour le territoire de l’agglomération de Longueuil (2010-2011). Plein sud thank the Longueuil Youth Forum (Agglomération de la CRÉ de Longueuil) for its financial support.


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