Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel (diptych), oil on linen, 72" X 120", 2019
The title, taken from Jean Ferrat’s famous song, is the most ambitious solo exhibition ever presented on Canadian soil by Montreal painter Mathieu Laca.
After a sparkling introduction in Toronto in 2018, Laca’s highly-anticipated exhibition brings together about thirty large-scale portraits of historical couples whose relationships have been decisive for each person.
That is to say, each member of the couple irrevocably influenced the arc of the other’s destiny, sometimes in tragic ways.
Laca depicts these human experiences with the psychological depth unraveled by his bold impasto technique.
Exhibition Details
- DATE: November 7th to November 24th 2019
- LOCATION: Thompson Landry Gallery, Cooperage Space 6 Trinity Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 3C4
- WEBSITE: www.thompsonlandry.com
- GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday –Saturday 11am –6pm,
Sunday 12pm –5pm, or by appointment
Camille Claudel Detail
Press Release
11/7/2019 Toronto, Canada
Que serais-je sans toi is the first major exhibition presented by Montreal painter Mathieu Laca in the Cooperage Space of the Thompson Landry Gallery in Toronto. It will feature around 30 large-format impasto portraits, diptychs and still lives revolving around what has bound historical figures together. The exhibition will run from November 7th to November 24th.
The opening night is by invitation and will take place on Thursday November 7th from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Laca will also be present at the gallery to meet visitors on Saturday November 9th in the afternoon, starting at 1:00 pm. The gallery is located in the Distillery District at 6 Trinity Street.
Painting is frightfully sentimental.
According to legend reported by Pliny the Elder, the first painting—a portrait in relief—was done by a girl wishing to remember her lover whose journey had taken him away. Painting, and more importantly the portrait, conjures the absence of the beloved; it is the living testimony of what binds us to the other.
Who would Rimbaud have been without his Verlaine?
And conversely? Think of Vincent Van Gogh without the support of his younger brother Theo.
And what trajectory would Oscar Wilde’s life have taken had Lord Alfred Douglas not crossed it?
Who would Jane Goodall have been without meeting and studying chimpanzees (that’s right, other animals are people too)?
Vincent and Theo Van Gogh, oil on linen, 72" X 60", 2019
What of the iconic couple Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir? And what of the mutual understanding between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera?
Camille Claudel without the overbearing shadow of Rodin? What would have happened to the mystique of Dali without his muse Gala? Mozart without the austere (and castrating?) figure of his father, Leopold? Martin Luther King without his wife Coretta Scott who shared and kept alive his dream of justice, even after his death?
And what about those women who put their ambitions on the back burner for the sake of their husbands? The virtuoso pianist and composer Clara Schumann stopped composing to support Robert, take care of the household and raise their eight children. Emeritus scientist Mileva Marić-Einstein was a close collaborator of Albert’s early work without receiving proper credit.
The series highlights partners forced in the shadows because of restrictive social and moral norms. It illustrates self-effacement in the name of love; abnegation that carries one—at the expense of the other—to the highest peaks.
Laca depicts the generosity or nobility of these human experiences with psychological depth and nuance thanks to his delirious and distinctive impasto and splashing techniques. The exhibition offers viewers portraits of human genius while revealing the hidden faces of sacrifice.
Vincent Van Gogh Detail
About the Artist
Mathieu Laca discovered painting in high school through the guidance of two of his teachers. He held his first solo exhibition at 17 years old at the Maison des Arts de Laval in 1999.
Laca has been a full-time painter ever since his teenage years and has graduated from Concordia University in Visual Arts in 2005. The most notable solo exhibitions around his portrait work are The Animal that I Am at the Livart in Montreal (2017) and Faces at the Alpha Art Gallery in Ottawa (2016). His works are collected in over 15 countries around the globe by high profile collectors such as American actor Josh Brolin.
His recent portrait of acclaimed Quebec writer Michel Tremblay was chosen by Tremblay himself as the cover of the new edition of the Chronicles of the Plateau Mont Royal published by Leméac-Actes Sud.
Artist Mathieu Laca in front of portrait Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel
Questions and Contact
For any additional questions, or to request an interview with Mathieu Laca:
Joanne Thompson
Owner/Director
Thompson Landry Gallery
Mathieu Laca
Artist