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Jacques Payette exhibits at the Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec |
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Jacques Payette, Capturing Time May 5 to August 28, 2011 Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is proud to highlight the work of Québec painter Jacques Payette through a selection of work that spans some 30 years. The Jacques Payette. Capturing Time exhibition, an opportunity to showcase the artist's major gift to the Musée in 2005, features more than 50 pieces that describe this self-taught artist who is fascinated by the timelessness of things. Atmospheres of unsettling stillness, visual lyricism imbued with nostalgia of a sort, and the elegant physicality of the materials of his art. These are but a few of the keys to the artist's singular universe. As Jacques Payette puts it, "The most important painting is the one I haven't done yet. It's the one that will exist while it's being created." In the early '90s, the work of American artist Jasper Jones inspired Payette to experiment with encaustic painting. Since this age-old technique, which Payette mastered after two years' exploration, consists of mixing pigments into hot wax, it requires rapid and accurate execution. The result—effects of transparency and opacity. The painter's favourite subjects are his friends and family, and even himself, in settings that can contain a hint of nostalgia. In recent years, Payette has expressed his fascination with history by introducing 18th-century objects and furnishings into his work along with sumptuous period costumes. Worlds removed from the artist's usual environment, this inventory of ancient motifs creates intriguing anachronisms and lends mystery to his compositions.
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| CHRONOLOGY Jacques Payette's work is on display in Gallery 12 of the Pavillon Charles-Baillairgé until August 28. As Jacques Payette puts it: "The most important painting is the one I haven't done yet. It's the one that will exist while it's being created." CHRONOLOGY Jacques Payette was born in Montréal in 1951. A self-taught painter, a philosopher at heart and a knowledgeable music lover, Payette's grasp of the history of art is encyclopaedic. His work, shown in various galleries and other venues in Québec, Toronto, Calgary, New York, Mexico and Paris for nearly 40 years, has earned him grants from the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts. His work graces numerous public and private collections across Canada, including those of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke, the Musée d'art de Joliette, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Art Bank of the Canada Council for the Arts. |
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