Opening with the artist in attendance
Saturday November 17 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm
About the exhibition:
It is rare, after all these years in the art business, to be caught by surprise; to be captivated and delighted by a
chance encounter with a painting by an artist you haven't previously heard of, that makes your heart actually skip
a beat. In a room full of other paintings, this one stands out, impresses with its originality and technique and
makes you hope instantly that it is for sale, and that there may be more! That is what happened to Jean-Pierre
Valentin when he first saw a painting by Claude de Gaspé Alleyn.
This fall, we are pleased to show around twenty works by De Gaspé Alleyn, result of the past three years. They
are executed in a divisionist or pointillist style. According to the art critic René Viau, "it is this multiplication of dots,
placed by brush or stylus and accentuated by needle that forms the foundation of the picture, as if just as many
pixels had been applied with the utmost artisanship." As for the subject-matters, he adds: "We are taken on a trip
down memory lane by the familiar and cherished characters brought to life by the painter Claude De Gaspé
Alleyn.
Even though this artist humorously dissects the perpetual daily lives of “regular” people, these individuals
evoke affection rather than critical irony." However, as mentioned by Robert Bernier, editor in chief of Parcours
Arts magazine, "it is as if the essential element of the painting is hidden, underlying… It seems like everything is
calm and serene but…" But, according to the artist, "like many of us, I sense the danger that weighs heavy on the
planet due to our race’s thoughtlessness and, as a pictorial chronicler of my time, I perceive the wake of the
images that I created as the traces and relics of a civilization that still exists but that is coming to an end. My
pictures and their characters still dance carefree on the deck of the Titanic, but for how much longer?
To a certain extent might we not say, like of the news collection published by Alain Grandbois during the Interwar
period, that these are images of Before the Chaos!"
About the artist:
Claude De Gaspé Alleyn is a self-taught artist born in Québec City in 1946. Subsequent to obtaining a History
degree at the University of Montréal, he pursued a career in the field of communications, all the while continuing to
paint.
Since 1985, he has participated in exhibitions in several institutions, such as Arts Sutton (Sutton) and the Centre
d’Exposition du Vieux Palais (Saint-Jérôme). In 2009, he was featured in a televised report on a project called
Mural Mosaic which took place in Edmonton, Alberta. Since July 2007, he has painted in his studio in West Brome
(Québec).
On the fringes of mainstream contemporary art, Claude De Gaspé Alleyn’s paintings, resolutely figurative and
undeniably narrative, express a social vision that is fresh, individualistic, and sometimes critical of our world.
Claude De Gaspé Alleyn’s work has been shown as part of the permanent collection at Galerie Valentin since fall
2010.
Electronic Catalogue available online:
http: //www.valentingallery.com
For more information:
Galerie Valentin,
(514) 939-0500
info@galerievalentin.com
Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm
Thursday from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Saturday from10:00 am