Previous exhibitions

Johanne Laventure

Barks and Words

January 22 to March 21, 2020

Opening on February 8, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

This exhibition expresses a period of my life which was under reconstruction following trials. The desire to paint is coiled in me as the bird searches for its nest. An emergency sets in to find a new direction. Walking in nature, zigzagging on the trails, feeling the ground under my feet is most beneficial. I sniffed the pines and leaves lying on the ground. I stomped on green moss and unstable ground to find the cabin, my new territory. I found on my way this mythical tree that literally made my eye, this noble tree the Birch.

As far back as I can remember the birch has always had my favor. This tree with fine and elegant branches, its whiteness contrasting with the neighboring trees. It brought me back to my childhood when I picked up Birch bark and wrote words with chalk. So I followed my instincts and picked up many barks that littered the ground. I washed, cleaned, and bleached them to take a closer look. And I discovered there a fascination for their stories, open scars, tiger lines, contrasts of earth colors which light up with the whiteness of certain barks.

 So I played with them and wanted to incorporate them into my paintings like an abandonment movement. Find a new language a new expression. Using primary colors to bring dynamism and a certain modernity. Play with shapes inserting objects to create a playful and decorative side. This pictorial experience allowed me to look at nature and see a symbolic, the role in healing or in the appropriation of what we are.
My work is also part of this ecological concern where nature becomes central to our lives. Let us therefore protect this nature which is so beneficial.

The second proposal of paintings that I present to you comes from this same period of questioning and is less abstract describing more the relational aspect. The primary and energizing colors as well as the textures teeming with paint describe this desire to approach vibrations, energy and expression linked to emotions. The gesture is more spontaneous, raw and captures the snapshot more.

Couples, groups of people hide, invite each other to dialogue, help each other and all belong to change. This series is a testament to my desire to meet others in all that is most complex and moving.
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