art

Artist Statement:

I am a Montreal-based contemporary realist artist. Preferring to working with intangibles, my images forego explicit messages and instead attempt to trigger obtuse feelings, leaving the significance of the artwork up to the viewer.

When I played the violin in my youth, I learned to read music. It wasn’t long before the notes on the page directly translated onto the neck of my instrument. I didn’t consciously think “oh, that’s do-re-mi” and then find do-re-mi on the neck. My eyes would see the notes, and my fingers would find them automatically on the neck. It bypassed my analytical brain. That’s how I like to consume art, and how I like my art to enter people’s hearts. We look at it and, without having to break it down in a cerebral way first, we feel it.

Countless intimate hours are spent creating carefully composed images during which narratives unfold in my mind. My subjects often take a shape and direction of their own as they come to life on the wooden panel, canvas, or paper. I believe problems faced at the easel, as in life, are opportunities to explore unexpected venues, making of every artwork a space for irreplaceable dynamism. Ultimately, I strive to make this uniqueness felt, assimilating themes from daily life with my influences of fantasy illustration, graffiti writing, and tattoo art. My desire is to provoke feeling and transcendence from our fast-paced lives.

Démarche artistique:

Je suis une artiste de réalisme contemporain qui vit à Montréal. Préfèrant jouer avec les intangibles, mes images renonçent les messages explicites pour laisser la place aux sentiments nébuleux, la signification des œuvres laissée à l’appréciateur. Je crois que l’émotion qui lie les yeux au cœur durant un échange avec une œuvre d’art est une offrande sacrée sur l’autel de l’âme; un moment vivant, intime et intouchable par les définitions surgissant de l’extérieur de cette expérience.

En dessin comme en peinture à l’huile, je crée soigneusement mes images, recherchant une composition naturelle et harmonieuse. Quoique je rejette tout ce qui me semble forcé ou gimmick, mes sujets prennent souvent des directions qui leurs sont propres lorsqu’elles prennent vie sur le panneau de bois, la toile, ou le papier. J’accueille leur étrange libre arbitre, étant que je crois que les défis auxquels nous sommes confrontés au chevalet, comme dans la vie, sont des occasions pour explorer des voies imprévues, faisant de l’art un espace où vit un dynamisme inimitable. 

Je m’efforce de faire ressentir cette unicité en assimilant de thèmes absorbés de la vie quotidienne avec mes influences d’illustration, de graffiti et de tattoo. Mon désir est simplement de provoquer des sentiments et une transcendance au-delà du rythme effréné de nos vies.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swell_rachelle/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/dirtybrush.art

For information about an artwork, please message me via the website’s “inquiries” // pour information sur l’une des œuvres, svp m’écrire à la section “inquiries”

Scroll to the bottom for current and past exhibitions, notable commissions, and publications // Défilez au bas de la page pour expositions courantes ou passées, commissions notables, et publications

Click on the square thumbnails to see the full image // Cliquez la vignette carrée pour voir l’image au complet

“Folds & Holds” Series

available for purchase / disponible pour achat

Available Paintings – Peintures disponibles

Available Drawings – Dessins disponibles

Selection of Sold Paintings & Commissions – Sélection de peintures vendues & commissions

Selection of sold Drawings – Sélection de dessins vendus

Selection from my Private Collection – Selection venant de ma collection privée

Represented by Galerie L’Original – paintings can be found at all three addresses: 163 St-Paul Ouest, 384 St-Paul Ouest, and 4455 rue St-Denis, Montreal

On display at Campbell Picture Framing, at 4916 Sherbrooke St West in Westmount (Montreal) : Bluenana, Ketchup Girls, Mayo & Bechamel, Listening for Echoes from the Rainbow Bridge;

Monochromatic Love – solo art exhibit at Glamor Tattoo studio in St-Henri, Montreal at 4020 Saint Ambroise St Local 268, until the 23rd of March – a body of black and white paintings and drawings.

Notable Exhibitions

  • D’Après\After Picasson – group exhibition @ Espace Mushagalusa – 533 Ontario Est, Montréal – curated by Cedric Taillon (2019)
  • Galerie Z – group exhibition – 420 Édifice Belgo – 372 rue Ste-Catherine O, Montréal (2017)
  • Creature Mythologies @ Nostracasa, 4035, St Ambroise #217, Montréal – curated by Summer Geraghty (2012)
  • Decover Magazine #14 – group exhibition @ soupçon cochon – 5427 St-Laurent, Montréal (2011)
  • Manager jeans “Mx Jeans” advertising campaign – group exhibition @ L’Autre Galerie – 4 St. Paul Est, Montréal (2005)

Notable Commissions

  • Four portraits for Bruce Sinclair, Métis theatre artist, teacher, student of the nēhiyawēwin (Cree) and Michif languages, and former Program Officer, Theatre, Canada Council
  • Two paintings commissioned by the Quebec Medical Association (AMQ) — for Ruth Vander-Stelt, former president of the AMQ, which was presented to her during the President’s Gala, and for Stanley Vollant, the first aboriginal surgeon in Quebec, which was presented to him during the President’s Gala along with the Prestige Award.
  • Painting commissioned by the Centre Culturel Afro Brésilien du Québec
  • Two paintings commissioned by Ruth Vander-Stelt, former president of the AMQ
  • Original art piece commissioned by Manager Jeans as part of an advertising campaign

Media Publications

  • Paintings featured in the Quebec television shows Ruptures (2016), Unité 9 (2018), and L’Heure Bleue (2021)
  • 3-page feature in Décover Magazine #14 (2011)
  • Artwork featured in Manager jeans promotional material (2005)