Manifestation internationale d'art de Québec

PRIX RELÈVE

CHRISTIAN MESSIER

for his performance at Putain de bal masqué pervers, organized by Folie/Culture during the event DSM-V+ in October 2006. The performance was a strong, sensitive experience that oscillated between extreme gestuality and the fragility of the body.

Christian Messier’s artistic language is conjugated through painting and performance. Since 2000 he has participated in several performance events in Québec, including the Rencontre internationale d’art performance de Québec in 2000 and 2002, Atopie textuelle, Arts d’attitudes and the Manif d’art 3 in 2005. His performances have also been seen in several countries, including Croatia, Great Britain, the United States, Poland, Ireland and Argentina. He was one of the instigators of the event PAN! Peinture, presented by Le Lieu in the summer of 2006.

Prize

$500 given by the Faculté d’aménagement, d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated

Thierry Arcand-Bossé

For his exhibition at the Galerie Lacerte in February 2007, comprising recent work coloured by the ardour that consistently characterizes the artist’s production. A reflection on oppressive urgency and political lies relayed through the use of popular and technical imagery.

Mathieu Valade

For his intervention Les belles balles, presented in collaboration with L’Œil de Poisson in a field on a country road in St-Casimir, Québec. Renewed forms scattered throughout the field disrupted a part of the St-Casimir countryside. The project was a part of a four-part series entitled Géometrie rural, in which the artist works to with reroute our usual perceptions of the countryside.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

HÉLÈNE MATTE

for her show Voyage-Voyage, created in the context of a production residency at Recto-Verso and presented May 12 and 13, 2007 at the Essai studio of the Méduse cooperative. The artist used this complex, intimist presentation that incorporated drawing, poetry, storytelling to critically review social mores in touchingly poetic terms.

Hélène Matte lives and works in Québec City where she has made a name for herself as a cultural administrator, painter, printmaker poet and performance artist. She is particularly interested in orality and drawing as acts of presence. She has shown her work in several exhibitions, including Mes Vieux, a series of digital prints presented at the Galerie Rouje and at the Institut Canadien in Québec City in 2006 and at Gesù (centre de créativité) in Montréal in 2008.

Prize

$500 given by the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated

Cooke-Sasseville

For their participation in the event Les Convertibles, shown in the context of the 10th anniversary of the Journées de la culture. The duo associated the theme of death with the game of bowling, proposing metaphors that incorporated technical vocabulary and the anthropomorphous facet of bowling pins.

Paryse Martin

For her installation Manœuvres exquises presented at the Galerie des arts visuels in February, 2007. The installation comprised a community of objects in which the figurative and the abstract rubbed shoulders, tangled in an endless muddle of the real and the mythological. The result was a staging of the fantastic that evoked an obscure tragedy amplified by a symbolism of sensuality.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

DIANE LANDRY

The jury awarded the Reconnaissance prize to artist Diane Landry for her generous contribution to several disciplines, including installation, performance, and audio art. Since 1987, she has offered the public work incorporating skillful constructions and kinetic mechanisms that, full of meaning, renew links between various disciplines. She used relationships of scale to disrupt proportions, allowing us to enter her world full of wonder. Through her unique sensibility, she manages to speak of humanity with grandeur and beauty.

Throughout her career, Diane Landry has participated in numerous artist residencies and collaborated in several audio compilations. Her work has been presented in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Australia, France, Austria and Germany. She received the Prix du rayonnement international from the Conseil de la culture des régions de Québec et de Chaudière-Appalaches in 2003. In 2007, she became the first winner of the Giverny Capital award, given by a private company to an artist in recognition for her work.

Prize

$500 given by Manifestation internationale d’art de Québec

PRIX ÉVÈNEMENT

BLAISE CARRIER-CHOUINARD

For an installation presented at L’Œil de Poisson from January 13 to February 12, 2006. A faux-décor in which enticement and mystification merged in a mise-en-scène comprising found and transformed items. By linking the twin desires to make art and create an illusion the artist interrogates our powerful desire to believe. In 2005, the exhibition received the “Tombé dans l’œil award” given by L’Œil de Poisson to a graduating student of the visual arts school of Université Laval.

Blaise Carrier-Chouinard holds an undergraduate degree from Université Laval. He participated in a group exhibition at the Galerie des arts visuels in 2005 and was part of an itinerant residency in France, a collaboration of artist-run centers from Québec City and France.

Prize

500 $ from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated :

Chantal Séguin

For the exhibition L’avenir est plus loin qu’on pense, presented at Engramme from October 15 to November 13, 2005. Inspired by her proposals for public artworks, the artist provided visitors an opportunity to view her mock-ups, which display various ways to envision public space. 

Cooke-Sasseville

For the exhibition Le plus beau jour de ma vie, presented at L’Œil de Poisson from November 18 to December 18, 2005. Fantasmagorical and hallucinatory, the installation reflected on the apogee suggested by the expression “the best day of my life” and on its resulting relationship with time.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

LAURÉAT MAROIS

For the exhibition Séquences, presented at the Galerie des arts visuels from November 10 to December 4, 2005. The well-known artist presented three series of paintings inspired by nature, his own life and personal experiences. Articulating the will to access truth and beauty while conveying hope, the artist blends elements borrowed from nature with those of an inner landscape.

Lauréat Marois lives and works in Québec City. For almost 35 years he has shown his work in solo exhibitions in Canada and Belgium and in group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Britain, France and China.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement, d’architecture et des arts visuels de l’Université Laval.

Also nominated:

Paul Lacroix for his exhibition presented at the Galerie des arts visuels from April 6 to 30, 2006. The artist proposed photographs and drawings that display his enthusiasm to bypass the conventional use of mediums.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

IVAN BINET

For his exhibition Dessous zero, presented from February 18 to March 20, 2005 at Esthésio art contemporain. An established artist, Ivan Binet has been active in photography since 1992. He has shown his work in Québec and abroad, most notably in France, Colombia and, in the context of the event Latinos del Norte, in Mexico City. Ivan Binet has created several public artworks in various buildings in the Québec City region.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec and the Faculté d’aménagement, d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Jean-François Côté for his exhibition Personnes, presented from March 25 to April 17, 2005 at the gallery Le 36. Jean-François Côté practices photography and video. He was nominated for the 2003-2004 Prix Videre and was a recipient of the Prix René-Richard. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in visual arts.

Paryse Martin for her exhibition Sauvage et cultivée, presented from April 22 to May 15, 2005 at Esthésio art contemporain. An established artist, Paryse Martin has practiced visual arts for more than 20 years and recently completed a doctorate in the study and practice of art. She has exhibited in several cities in Québec and abroad, particularly in Holland and Spain. Her work is part of the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Banque nationale and the National Library of Canada.

PRIX RELÈVE

DGINO CANTIN

For the exhibition La suite des choses, presented from September 2 to 12, 2004 at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval. Dgino Cantin practices installation, sculpture and performance. He recently completed a graduate degree in art and has shown his work at the Galerie d’art de Matane, at Langage Plus in Alma and at the Galerie des arts visuels in Québec City. He also participated in the third edition of the Manif d’art biennial.

Awarded by:

Manifestation internationale d'art de Québec

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec and the Faculté d'aménagement, d'architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Josée Landry-Sirois for her installation presented in November 2004 as part of the independent event Massacre à la scie. Josée Landry-Sirois, who holds an undergraduate degree in art, is particularly interested in photography, performance and artist books. Active in Québec City, her work has been shown at Paraloeil, the gallery Matéria and the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval. She participated in Résidence Story at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE in the context of the Manif d’art 3.

Nathalie Thibault for her exhibition Peintures, presented from October 7 to 24, 2004 at Rouje arts et événements. A painter, Nathalie Thibault holds a graduate degree in art. In 2002, she won the Prix Louis-Garneau, awarded to a graduating student in visual arts.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

JEAN-PHILIPPE ROY

For his exhibition Les oiseaux, l'arbre, la montagne ( bis ), presented at the gallery Le 36 in March 2004. Like in a game of mirrors, sculptures were presented with doubles, creating a unique aesthetic and spatial experience. Jean-Philippe Roy holds a graduate degree in art from Université Laval. He is a recipient of the “Tombé dans l’œil” award from L'Œil de Poisson and the Prix René-Richard. He participated in the exhibition of emerging artists at the Manif d'art 2.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec and the Faculté d’aménagement, d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Jean-François Côté for his exhibition L'Ombre survivante, presented at Centre VU in November 2003. Photographs presented in the exhibition questioned their support, resulting in images with a surprising, almost sculptural three-dimensional quality.

François Simard for his exhibition Trois suites, shown at the gallery Le 36 in February 2004. The artist presented three large canvases of surprising rhythmic composition in confidently painted forms and colours.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

MICHEL PARENT

An accomplished artist and exceptional pedagogue, Michel Parent taught visual arts for more than 30 years at Université Laval. The originality of his approach and the heterogeneity of his work influenced several generations of artists and contributed to the vibrancy of the local arts scene. The exhibition Extraits 1964-2004, presented at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval, allowed visitors an opportunity to appreciate the work of an artist who left his mark on art training in Québec City.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec and the Faculté d’aménagement, d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Patrick Altman for the exhibition Les tableaux, presented in February 2004 at L’Œil de Poisson. Made up of hundreds of small photographs of paintings, this work encompassed entire segments of history in a unique and innovative means of presentation, typical of the artist’s approach to installation and photography. Head photographer at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, he has been highly involved in the Québec City arts scene for many years.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

BRANKA KOPECKI

For the exhibition Une histoire vraie qui n’existe pas, presented at Centre VU from March 28 to April 20, 2003. Branka Kopecki exhibited an ensemble of large black and white photographs that played with the obvious elements of representation and questioned the support. Superimposed images of street scenes and incongruous elements highlighted the specificity of the photographic images.

Originally from Bosnia, Branka Kopecki is pursuing doctoral studies at Université Laval. Her photographic work is a reflection on photography and on the elaboration of personal history.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Lucie Fortin for the exhibition Ce par quoi les choses sont éclairées, presented at the gallery Le 36 in October 2002, showcasing sculptural objects, photographs and mural pieces of an uncertain and joyously destabilizing status. Lucie Fortin received the Prix René-Richard in 1998 and has participated in several group exhibitions. Polysemy of form and multidirectional content account for the originality of her work.

Carlos Sainte-Marie for the exhibition Dans mon temps, a series of retables presented at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval in September 2002. Already active in music, Carlos Sainte-Marie earned a graduate degree in art from Université Laval in 1999. The same year, he received the Prix René-Richard. His painting is a blend of bold gestuality and pop iconography.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

GABRIEL ROUTHIER

For an outstanding career as exemplified by his participation in the Manif d'art 2. Gabriel Routhier has practiced printmaking and woodcutting for 17 years. A talented and experienced artist, he renews traditional techniques and explores new technologies. His peers respect him as a skilled and knowledgeable craftsman whose inventive imagination always transcends technical virtuosity. In the spring of 2003, he received the professional artist award in the 2003 printmaking competition of Loto-Québec.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d'aménagement, d'architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Jocelyn Robert for an outstanding career as exemplified by his participation in the Manif d'art 2, in which he displayed four installations highlighting works created since 1995. A multi-disciplinary artist, Jocelyn Robert has practiced audio, video and computer art for many years. Characterized by simplicity and poetry, he is an active participant in the constant renewal of media arts. His work, often characterized by collaborative efforts, has been recognized in Québec and abroad. In 2002, he won an award in the Image category at the Berlin Transmediale.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

MARTIN BUREAU

For the exhibition La dérive des surfaces, presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte from March 30 to April 22, 2002. A multidisciplinary artist, Martin Bureau lives and works in Saint-Jean on Île d'Orléans. Since 1996, he has shown his work in several solo and group exhibitions in Québec and abroad.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Giorgia Volpe for her installation La chute réalisée, shown at the event Emergence at Îlot Fleurie in August 2002. The artist poetically addresses various approaches to the body and its relationship with the environment. Born in Brazil, Giorgia Volpe lives and works in Québec City. She has been active in Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico, presenting her work in artist-run centres and intervening in urban contexts.

Murielle Dupuis-Larose for her video installation Le couloir, presented at L’Œil de Poisson in February 2002 and for Horizons humains, shown at Paysages et autres fictions at the Maison Hamel-Bruneau in August 2002. After earning an undergraduate degree from Université Laval, Murielle Dupuis Larose pursued studies at the Institut d’art et d’archéologie in Tunisia. She has created numerous installations and video projections presented in Canada and abroad.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

JEAN-PIERRE MORIN

For his sculpture exhibition Objets détournés, shown at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte in March 2002. Jean-Pierre Morin lives and works in Québec City. Since 1978, he has shown his work in many group and solo exhibitions in Québec and abroad. He has further created an impressive number of important public artworks, mainly in the Québec City region.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Lucie Lefebvre for the exhibition Horizon aveugle, presented at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval from March 28 to April 21, 2002. An art photographer, Lucie Lefebvre has shown in Canada, Europe, the Unites States and Mexico. Her work may be found in important public and private collections. Highly involved in culture and education, Lucie Lefebvre currently chairs the board of directors of Manifestation internationale d’art de Québec.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

RICHARD MILL

For work shown at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval in 2001. In an environment conceived as an element in its own right, sculptures displaying remarkable visual exploration and distribution beckoned the viewer to action, establishing a unique way to present sculpture.

A painter and sculptor, Richard Mill teaches art at Université Laval. His work has been shown abroad and in Québec City, most notably at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Caroline Flibotte and Rosalie Dumont-Gagné for the exhibition Champ fluide, presented at L’Œil de Poisson. The production of these two artists showed a striking clarity of execution and a surprising poetry. Fine workmanship and pertinent results point the way to a promising future for both artists.

Branka Kopecki for the exhibition La marque d’incertitude, presented at the Centre VU. The artist, originally from Bosnia, is new to the Québec City art scene. The monumental force that emanates from her large self-portraits brings a theatrical note to photography, carrying its language to another level.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

FRANÇOIS CHEVALIER

For the exhibition Prolifectations, presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte, which highlighted the painter-printmaker’s exuberant imagination and surprising output.François Chevalier has marked contemporary art in Québec City, where he lives and works, through the originality and stunning gestuality of his production. Since 1986, he has shown in several group and solo exhibitions in Québec and abroad.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Diane Landry for the light and sound installation Les Sédentaires clandestins, presented at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in 2001, in which the scientific features that transcend her constantly developing work were suffused with a playful and ingenious energy. Diane Landry’s work has been nationally and internationally recognized for several years.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

FRANÇOIS MATHIEU

For his public artwork installed at the Centre multiservices de formation professionnelle in Charny. Particularly well integrated into its environment, the sculpture is a testimony to a remarkable mastery of material and a sensitive and daring artistic approach.

Active in the Québec City arts scene for many years, François Mathieu has participated in several group and solo exhibitions. He has further created a number of public artworks in the province.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Pierre Ringuette for Albedo, an in situ environment created while artist-in-residence at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE. Inspired by the effects of light on the body and the theme of the Annunciation, the artist presented a minimalist and monumental work. His sculpture both revealed and ennobled the space in which it was presented.

Helga Shlitter for her exhibition at the gallery Trompe-l’Œil at Cégep de Sainte-Foy. With an almost ethnological sensitivity, her painted or mosaic sculptures borrowed their pre-Columbian references from Mexico, where the artist was born. The work was of particular interest for its original motifs and careful execution.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

PAUL LACROIX

For the exhibition Lèvres de velours et d’autres qui le sont moins. The artist presented photographic prints of drawings of the mouth, impressing the jury with sensual forms revealed through the unique procedure of the photogram.

Paul Lacroix is an internationally known painter and photographer. A long-time professor at the École des arts visuels of Université Laval, he transmitted his passion and talent to many artists. His nomination follows the outstanding reception of recent work presented at Centre VU and acknowledges his influence and active presence in the Québec City arts scene throughout his career.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Marius Dubois for a 10-year retrospective shown at the gallery of Bibliothèque Étienne-Parent in Beauport. A unique artist who practices outside major trends, Marius Dubois’ work is remarkable for its noteworthy style.

Chantale Gilbert for the exhibition Lames de fond, presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte. Using goldsmithing techniques, the artist creates one-of-a-kind knives that incorporate materials as diversified as silver, wood and fossils. Her art objects stand out for their fluidity, quality and originality, qualities that have characterized the work of Chantale Gilbert for many years.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

LE TRIO BGL

BGL is an acronym for Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière. Proficient salvagers, this collective of emerging artists creates installations that rely on unpolished materials and techniques to highlight the waywardness of society. If their work looks optimistic, it nonetheless displays an implacable lucidity in its incisive and refreshing social criticism.

In 1999-2000, the trio simultaneously presented Se réunir seul at the Maison de la culture Côtes-des-Neiges in Montréal; Rejoindre quelqu’un at the event La cueillette, organized by the centre Est-Nord-Est in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli; and La Villa des Regrets in a residency at 3e Impérial in Granby. Of equal interest was Perdu dans la nature, presented at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE in December 1998. Constructed entirely of salvaged wood and occupying the entire gallery space, this installation faithfully and ironically reproduced some of the choice features of consumer society: a luxury car, an aboveground pool and an impeccable lawn. The contrast between the evocation of suburban over-consumption and the use of recycled materials was highly effective.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

François Chevalier for the exhibition Insectarium welcome, presented at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE. In more than a hundred works on paper (print, charcoal, ink, graphite, pencil, etc.), the exhibition brilliantly displayed the artist’s wide-ranging draftsmanship in depictions of insects and butterflies characterized by a vibrant gestuality whose keyword was play. The artist further presented a video montage that animated the drawings.

François Mathieu for the exhibition Survivre et laisser rire, presented at L’Œil de Poisson. The artist invented machines from a timeless technological universe adapted to his whims and needs.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

DANIELLE APRIL

For the exhibition Domus, presented at Estampe Plus, a series of photographic montages uniting dreamlike architectural and landscape images. Celebrating the poetry of shelter, the boxes and pins of these daring assemblages were reminiscent of the displays of insect or butterfly collections.

Danielle April, who lives and works in Québec City, is an artist whose talent and intelligence are expressed through many disciplines. Her long and impressive exhibition record has been complemented by public artworks in schools, libraries, hospitals and public administration buildings. Her work is also part of many public and private collections in Québec and Canada. Danielle April worked for many years defending artists’ rights and interests, serving as chair of the RAAV (the Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec) and the Sodart (Société de droits d’auteur en arts visuels) and sitting on numerous committees.

Prize:

$ 500 from the Faculté d’aménagement d’architecture et des arts visuels of Université Laval

Also nominated:

Paul Lacroix for the exhibition Paul Lacroix: œuvres sur papier 1975-1998, presented by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, a survey of recent and older drawings showing the artist’s attentiveness to the smallest developments in art, regardless of their form. Paul Lacroix practices drawing without straying from his one true goal: pure creation.

Richard Mill for the exhibition Œuvres récentes, presented at the annex of Galerie Madeleine Lacerte. The exhibition contained paintings that confirmed the artist’s gestuality, coupled with wooded structures articulated in an agile system of diagonals. The artist moved from constructing images to contracting three-dimensional forms in a daring departure from conventional practices.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

CLAUDIE GAGNON

For the exhibition Le plein d’ordinaire, presented in her apartment. The work, a representation of pageant society, became a veritable event worthy of the name. Each of the apartment’s sumptuously ostentatious rooms was a true cabinet of curiosities or, as they were once called, a chamber of art and wonder.

Prize:

$ 500 from Mutuelle SSQ-Vie

Also nominated:

Florent Cousineau for Déplacements obscurs and Le dialogue des anges, two installations presented at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE. The materials testified to sensitivity to the environment and were assembled to create to ritual experience for the viewer. Through the use of fire and space, they created an impression of suspension and wakeful dreaming.

Ivan Binet for the exhibition Paysage sans fin, presented at Centre VU, recent computer-assisted photographs in which panoramic landscapes presented in groups of three could be read as poetic fictions showing seasons and vegetation that unfold above cliffs, on the water’s edge and on plains.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

DAVID NAYLOR

For the exhibition La nuit, presented at L’Œil de Poisson and for Malentendu, shown at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval. Playing on major issues within current sculpture, the artist simply and effectively rerouted conventional uses of materials and space in a highly contemporary approach.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated:

Paul Béliveau for the exhibition Les régénérescences, presented at Estampe Plus. The exhibition was formulated as a student’s emulation of the work of German photographer Karl Blossfeldt, who died in 1932. The artist displayed a series of drawings relating the history of nature partially destroyed but subsequently regenerated using reinvented works in a poetically baroque mode.

Diane Landry for the exhibition L’étreinte atroce, presented at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE as part of Trois Fois Trois Paysages, organized by Centre VU. This assembly of truncated objects was made out of a sleds, highchairs or rocking chairs set against transparent photographs representing urban landscapes. The installation, connected to a MIDI system that regulated movement, successfully invoked the absent body.

PRIX RÉVÉLATION

LAURÉATS EX AEQUO : NATALIE ROY ET PAUL BÉLIVEAU

NATALIE ROY

For the exhibition Nuits d’anémone (des millions d’étoiles et l’épaisseur d’un cheveu), presented at L’Œil de Poisson. Natalie Roy works from her material senses, highlighting the distance between matter’s original state and its poetic space. Her projects assemble and subvert objects drawn from daily life.

Natalie Roy lives and works in Québec City. She holds a graduate degree in art from the university Aix-Marseille I. She has presented several exhibitions in Québec and in France. She has created public artworks in the Québec City region and presented an installation at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in the event De foudre et de passion.

PAUL BÉLIVEAU

For two public artworks in Québec City: Les déplacements périphériques, installed at Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus and Lux aeterna, installed at the Caserne Dalhousie.

Paul Béliveau has worked in Québec City for more than 20 years. A printmaker and draftsman, in 1986 he devoted himself entirely to painting in Ronde de nuit and Fragments de nuit. His series Les apparences, presented in 1992, traveled to exhibition sites in Québec and Ontario over a four-year period. Since 1984, he has created numerous public artworks, including one in the entrance hall of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. His current production is multidisciplinary, blending traditional and cutting-edge techniques. His work is part of many public and private collections in Québec and abroad.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated:

Diane Landry for the exhibition Humeur à patiner, presented at Obscure. Everyday objects inspire Diane Landry’s work. Instead of dissimulating their origins, she brings them new resonance by subverting their initial function and deforming their scale. Examples include transforming a turntable into a carrousel for skates or an electric kettle into a performance clock-hat. She endeavors to occupy as much space as possible with as few objects as possible.

Joanne Tremblay for ETITNEDI, presented at Centre VU, in which she addressed her daughter’s identity by exploring the metaphysical and psychological links that exist between mother and child.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

MARCEL JEAN

For an exhibition of paintings presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte.

Marcel Jean, who began teaching art in the 1960s, has worked in painting, sculpture and drawing for more than 40 years. According to the artist, his work “develops from a philosophical reflection on the essence of art, beyond references to style.” Neither abstract nor representative in historical terms, he sees his work as defined according to its own history and occurrence.

Since 1966, Marcel Jean has exhibited in Québec, Canada and Europe. He has created several public artworks and his work may be found in numerous public and private collections.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec/p>

Also nominated:

Lucienne Cornet for Le Quatuor d’airain, a public artwork at the Centre des Congrès comprising bronze casts of four wild animals that bound on and off city concrete at the entrance to the convention centre. This type of piece is typical of the dynamic relationship the artist’s work maintains with the public, allowing her to leave her studio to test the fruit of her research outside the boundaries of galleries and museums.

Michel Parent for the exhibition Avec texts, presented at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval. To quote the artist: “To equably invent vocabularies of images and humbly believe that they give others, in the pleasure of an instant, a few moments of forgetting. The effort to acquire a vocabulary is considerable; however, the results are always uncertain. The practice of art is both modest and mad.”

René Taillefer for his public artworks at the Alphonse-Desjardins and Maurice-Pollack pavilions of Université Laval. Upon returning from a long trip to Africa, the artist began to design and create sculptures that are an extension of natural or architectural environments, linking his work to the landscape more than to conventional exhibition sites.

PRIX ÉVÉNEMENT

PATRICK ALTMAN

For the exhibition Œuvres oubliées, fragments of 200 works from the reserves of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, where he is head photographer. Like a collector, the artist printed 1600 photographs in various shades of grey, reminiscent of fading memories. In a pleasing blend of minimalism and poetry, his work is articulated around the notion of the corpus ( museum collections, family archives, etc. ) and often questions the conservation and abandonment of images.

Patrick Altman has shown his work in Québec and abroad. He is a founding member of the magazine Inter and has served as chair of Centre VU.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated:

Karole Biron for the exhibition Territoire d’objets, presented at Centre VU, notable for its fresh take on the world around us. The artist enjoys establishing dialogues between photography, sculpture and sculptural space. The territory she proposed was a strong installation composed of 700 concrete plaques supporting two pieces of furniture surrounded by photographs of objects and places.

Sylvie Bussières for the exhibition Objets divers, presented at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE as part of a two-week residency. Made up of found and salvaged objects, the essentially ephemeral pieces illustrate principles of nature and, in the process, open the way to evocative and ambiguous poetic associations that invite reflection.

Jacques Samson for the exhibition Sculptures récentes, presented at L’Œil de Poisson. The artist’s oversized hybrid forms establish a physical and conceptual relationship inspired by the vegetable kingdom. The materials employed conserve their respective properties but move beyond their limits, setting into motion a playful dynamic that incites the viewer to imaginatively extend what is seen.

PRIX RECONNAISSANCE

MARCEL MAROIS

For the exhibition Atmosphère de la mémoire, presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte, which allowed viewers access to new takes on textile art that renew the tradition of tapestry. The artist marries the texture of fiber with the visual grain of photocopied press clippings to which barely legible fragments of text are added, thereby inscribing notions of awareness and time. According to the artist, “to weave today is to conserve a trace of the past in the present, and to inscribe what is ephemeral in the permanence of tapestry.”

Marcel Marois is an internationally known artist whose work may be found in important public and private collections, for instance at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in the United States.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated

Richard Baillargeon for the exhibition Champs / la mer ( a series of photographic images accompanied by enigmatic phrases ) and Du plus loin : l’onde ( a film opposing mountain and sea ) presented at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE. In terms relating to notions of subject, horizon, margin and more, the artist examines the act of looking from an initiatic mode : “Look at who carries himself toward what is distant, but look at who turns himself toward what is close at hand, near, here, there…”

RICHARD MILL

For an exhibition of large-scale paintings presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte, in which format plays a key role in the work’s meaning and perception, allowing the paintings to deploy their own presence and emit their own energy. Relationships are established through accumulated gestures in which liveliness and calm coincide on the same surface, and equilibrium is maintained between formal characteristics and expressive intent.

A painter, Richard Mill began teaching at Université Laval in 1973. He has shown his work numerous exhibitions in galleries and museums in Québec, most notably at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. His work may be found in important public and private collections in Canada.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated:

Aline Martineau for the sculptural installation Chanson de geste, presented at Palais Montcalm. Mastery and sensitivity emanate from a fable-like creation recounting love, desire and the passage from childhood to adulthood. With matter, space and light, the artist shapes her inventions in a personal vocabulary that transports us elsewhere, leaving ample room for interpretation.

Bill Vincent for the exhibition Sculptures et gravures, presented at Engramme, where the artist heads the printmaking studio. The exhibition displays a return to roots predicated on previous explorations. Large sculptures maintain formal links with engravings, which are characterized by a more abstract approach that goes beyond tradition.

LAURÉAT MAROIS

For the exhibition Œuvres récentes, presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte in June 1994, comprising a series of works in a variety of mediums each of which is perfectly controlled. Painting, printmaking techniques, collage, mixed-media drawings and gouaches are used to display continued research that highlight the natural themes that are dear to the artist.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated:

Lucienne Cornet for the exhibition Rivage et La Mer-incantation chants, presented at Galerie Madeleine Lacerte in September 1993, comprising paintings and sculptures with organic forms. The crisscrossing of vibrant masses and lines speaks of an inner world, recalling the sea and, by extension, notions of gestation and birth.

Marcel Jean for the exhibition Horizons, presented at the Galerie des arts visuels of Université Laval in February 1993, comprising four large-scale paintings characterized by a supple gestuality and the judicious use of space. Active since the 1960s, Marcel Jean has never followed beaten paths. Guided by intuition, the colour and gestuality contained in his work express an exploration that beckons viewers to renounce preconceived ideas of painting and sculpture.

PAUL BÉLIVEAU

For the series Les Apparences, presented simultaneously in Québec City, Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa and Trois-Rivières, in which the artist continues to develop a progressive monumental painting-sculpture. As in a long and intense journey, the artist has the viewer cross the fragile barrier of time, bringing us into contact with well- and little-known figures of art history.

Born in 1954, Paul Béliveau earned an undergraduate degree from Université Laval in 1977. The recipient of numerous distinctions, his original and dynamic career has resulted in more than 50 solo exhibitions across Canada. His work displays a deep coherence and unmistakable refinement, drawing from the wealth of a common cultural store and his own personal history. It could be described as a dialogue between painting and drawing, figuration and free expression, past and present, or between the imaginary, the remembered and the real.

Prize:

$ 500 from La Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins de Québec

Also nominated:

Christian Noreau for the monumental sculpture Le Don, presented at L’Œil de Poisson, composed of two enormous hands made from transformed salvaged objects that evoke Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in which the fingers of Adam and God touch.

Joanne Tremblay for the exhibition of large-scale photographs entitled Carnet Photographique, presented at Centre VU in February 1993. The originality of the artist’s work is based on solid know-how transcended by sustained research and exploration that put the practice of photography to the test.