Showing up where people don’t expect you.

Ending the search and finding. Discovering new paths to explore.

New playgrounds where the pleasure of creation was hiding.

Life often leads us elsewhere, to unknown parts or to our innermost recesses, places we never venture into.

Through shadowlands that ultimately shed light and bedazzlement.

Bringing us back to our inner-selves and to others.

To those who people the present and the past.

Organic and spare creations in touch with the basics, the fundamentals.

Clean and simple, straightforward.

Following our instincts and emotions. Without restriction.

The beginning of an introspection and reflection on life, death, absence and loss.

- Éric Godin

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Éric Godin is a painter, editorial cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer. His works have travelled the world and can be found in many public and private collections in Quebec, Canada, the US and Europe.

He’s well know from the general public through his contributions to Montreal weekly Voir, TVA and Radio-Canada networks, L’Actualité monthly magazine, the NFB, just to name a few… A prolific creator since 1984, his posters, illustrations, graphic designs for Le Tour de l’île de Montréal, the Théatre d’Aujourd’hui, the Fête Nationale du Québec, Bell, Hydro-Québec, Just for Laughs, etc., are all part of our collective visual landscape.

In 2001, the Musée Juste Pour Rire held a retrospective celebrating the 15th anniversary of Pinhead, his four-haired cartoon character, and more than 2000 original works are preserved at McCord Museum in Montreal, the Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec and the National Archives in Ottawa.

He scripted and narrated the 2011 ONF interactive essay Lettre à Vincent with the help of sound and animation designer Zilon. The online companion book was downloaded more than 10,000 times.

He’s back, but this time, no paintings on the walls. This exhibit marks his return to sculpture after a more than twenty-year hiatus.

Born in Montreal, Guy Hamelin has expressed himself through his paintings since 2006. At first, he was a photographer specializing in works of art and by working side by side with painters he discovered his true nature. He was then encouraged and guided by fellow artists such as: Niko Desmarais,Clifford, Djinn and Monette with whom he held a paintbrush for the first time.

Since then he has continued to explore his artistic vision. Deeply introspective, his vision is inspired by Mandalas, symbolic representations of the universe in circular diagrams.

In Sanskrit, the word Mandala means circle and, by extension, sphere, environment, community, etc.. For Buddhists, they are a source of meditation, a path to a spiritual awakening. In the West, Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) studied and applied these concepts to some of his theories in psychoanalysis. For Guy Hamelin, they are the source of all his creative approaches to painting.

By allowing the Mandala to guide him to the end, he creates works of art that speak and come to life. His paintings, with pure selected forms and the complex details of execution, inspire meditation.

“My art is the expression of life. Each paint stroke that I laid on the canvas is a mix of inspiration, intention and emotions that join the hazards of life to create vibrant works of art, filled of energy and pure emotion.

My technique requires that I give up on control, on achieving perfection. I do not paint with a brush or a spatula, which would offer me too much control on the final result. I paint with a stick from which I let the paint drip onto the canvas (dripping). I never know exactly how and where the paint will land, or even its reaction with the other colors. So I compose with the results in order to create an artwork that is an expression of the original intention. And it’s the power of the intention which gives meaning to my gesture.

Just as in life, the final result is the combination of original intent and a series of events, unpredictable and uncontrollable. Just as in life, I learn to deal with them and get the best out of it.”

- Dage

Last year, during her visit at the New-York Art Expo, Dage received the Solo Artist of the Show award.  Dage’s work will be at the gallery from February 6 to March 9  2013, with twenty or so original paintings on exhibit. Something to discover!

Influenced by butoh dance and calligraphy, this instinctive and visceral artist scrutinises the invisible and ever changing states of humans.  It’s the starting point for a dynamic gestural art dominated by the subconscious: lines breathe, soar, examine inner layers, penetrate, chisel and caress. In À travers, a series of canvass and paper works, shadowy beings allow the essence of usually imperceptible sights bleed through, unveiling a blossom of roots and unspoken words from within.

With degrees in Visual Arts, Scenic Design, and a M.A. in Performing Arts, José Dupuis received a FCAR scholarship to travel to Japan and study with renowned butoh dancer and choreographer Kazuo Ohno, in 1997. Profoundly touched by the master, her artistic approach and world take on an indelible Asian tinge. Through the “dance of darkness”, she discovers the luminous expression of the world of the living. From that point on, breathing, transformations, transiency, life and death, eroticism, macrocosmos and microcosmos will lead to a highly sensitive transcription of her inner landscapes. She is also introduced to traditional Japanese painting by artist Ilan Yanisky (Tokyo) and calligraphy by Tomoko Kodama (Ottawa) who teaches her the synchronisation of body, breathing and hand in the art of painting.

José Dupuis lives and works in Montréal. She has been teaching drawing at the Option Théatre of Collège Lionel Groulx since 1997. Her works and artist’s books have been shown in Montréal and in France.

Overview of the work