It was such a pleasure to enter the Thomson Landry Gallery, on the opening night of Jean-Pierre Lafrance’s new series: Juxtapositions. Located in the Distillery District, the gallery’s exquisite industrial and modern décor is an ideal environment to experience the art of Lafrance’s.
I have admired his abstract expressionism for many years, as he is one of Quebec’s most established active painters and sculptor. In Juxtapositions, I encountered the artist’s renewed aesthetic. The canvases were a bit smaller than usual, however the intensity of the gesture and of the palette seemed reinforced. Instead of using his usual technique of laying down large canvases on the floor and working all around them, Lafrance decided to paint on smaller supports. Then, he combined two or more canvasses into a single tableau, so most of the art works on display are diptychs.
The multiplicity of textures and colours in Jean-Pierre Lafrance’s abstractions speaks a language of their own. Each of his creations invites us to stare deeply into the thick coats of paint and uncover the emotions behind every single colorful brushstroke.
Camila Jourdain
* Exhibition information: September 24 – October 11, 2015, Thompson Landry Gallery, 32 Distillery Lane, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tues– Sat 11– 6 p.m, Sun 12 – 5 p.m.