Jacques Descoteaux
The Portal of Tranquility
May 18 - June 7, 2012
Reception:
Thursday May 24, 2012 6-8 PM
Press Release
At first glance, Canadian artist Jacques Descoteaux’s canvases resemble abstract color field paintings, but as the eye adjusts and subtle variations in tone and texture emerge, they turn out to be landscapes. Originally inspired by the flat topography and vast skies of the region surrounding James Bay, where he spent time years ago, and the urban environment of Toronto, where the artist in now based, Descoteaux paints what would almost be better described as cloudscapes. His compositions are often pure sky, beautiful shifting gradients of oil paints applied in many thin layers to create subtle shifts in light and tone.
Details of scale and setting emerge gradually, revealing dramatic cliffs, stunning shafts of sunlight and expanses of gray coastal fog. And yet, even in seemingly monochromatic visual climates, Descoteaux manages to wrest color and spontaneity from his images, inflecting endless grey clouds with shades of purple, orange, green and blue, blurring the boundaries where water and sky meet. Majestic landscapes teeter towards abstraction in his wondrous canvases.
Artist Statement
My paintings are mostly inspired by landscape, by the land and the sky. Time and space are important too, though not necessarily a specific time or place. I am interested in exploring color and space, suggesting both the tension and harmony that exist in nature. Painting is my emotional response to my environment. I started painting in watercolors and later discovered chalk pastels. I now paint mostly in oils. My oil painting technique is a reflection of my early days doing watercolor paintings – I work in thin, diluted layers. Also, I will often apply paint with cloth, which gives me a more direct contact with the canvas. When I start a new piece, I have no preconceived idea of the end result – I react to each application of paint. The final piece is an emotional response to whole process of painting.
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