JOSEE DALLAIRE - Download PDF here
Art and How to Be a Woman
Josée Dallaire is an emerging artist who is becoming recognized in the Montreal milieu and who is imposing her critical view on the hypersexualization of certain feminine archetypes. She is represented by the Mensi & Rioux agency in Montreal. Born in this city, the artist has always been passionate about artistic creation and has devoted herself fulltime to it since the 9/11 events. After this terrible catastrophe, the artist became aware of the frailty of the modern world and she decided to intensely pursue her passion for painting. Since then, Josée Dallaire pursued her artistic training at the Saidye Bronfman School of Fine Art under the direction of well known artists who introduced her to various media and techniques such as image transfer, drawing, painting, and Japanese paper. She has been presenting her work since 2003 in many solo and group show throughout Quebec. In addition, Josée Dallaire has won several prizes and grants including the 'Emerging Artist' prize given by the city of Laval in 2004.
Josée Dallaire's central theme is women. Dismayed by the excessive exploitation of the image of the woman in mass media as seen in video clips and magazines, the artist decided to gear her production towards a representation where sensuality and seduction are put forth in a more subtle and interiorized manner. In this sense, the faces of her subjects rarely look directly at the viewer and thus preserve some intimacy. Her compositions are collages of different materials. The female figure is often drawn in graphite and depicted in an abstract world created by the layering of different human and animal figures obtained by using the technique of image transfer onto canvas. This composition is supported by the very subtle and nuanced color obtained using relatively neutral and generally transparent Japanese papers mounted on the canvas. For the artist, these papers are ''like skins that we touch and that act like veils because of the layering and their diaphanous effect.'' Dallaire recurrently inserts five geometric figures: the circle, the square, the triangle, the cross, and the spiral. The artist chose these forms after studying the Signs of Life, a book by the anthropologist Angeles Arrien who states that these five figures embody universal symbols at the bias of human psychology for all civilizations and cultures. Consequently, by using these forms, the artist attempts to give a universal context to the understanding of her work and the message that it contains.
Josée Dallaire is an enthusiastic artist who associates artistic creation with the simplest daily acts of her life. In addition, the physical space in which she works often resembles the aesthetic space of her art works.
A powerful feminist, Dallaire offers us her moving view of women in a spirit that tends to transcend prejudices and fads.
By David Gauthier
EDUCATION
School of fine art Saidye Bronfman
Visual art center of Montreal
Estrie School of arts
Studios of Louise Lachance-Legault, Pascale Poulin, Ming Ma et Francine Labelle
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS
2006
Galerie André Benjamin Papineau, Laval
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS/ JURY SELECTION
12-2008
Make-a-Wish foundation, Galerie MX, Montréal
Art, Encens et Myrrhe, Galerie MX, Montréal
2007
Complexe culturel St-Laurent, La Prairie
Expo-concours La Prairie
Museum of art Mont-St-Hilaire
2006
Expo-concours La Prairie
Exposition Promécanic
"Annuel des arts" at Galerie André Benjamin Papineau
"Les Femmeuses", Pratt and Whitney Canada
2005
"Annuel des arts" Galerie André Benjamin Papineau
Salon des arts visuels of Brossard
2004
Museum of art Mont-St-Hilaire
Symposium of Mascouche
Centre culturel, Baie St-Paul
"Une époque en art" Saint-Basile-le-Grand
Festiv'art of Frelighsburg
Week of visual arts of Mont-Tremblant
2003
Symposium of Mascouche
Festiv'art of Frelighsburg
AWARDS
2007
2nd price Expo-concours La Prairie
2006
1st price ''Annuel des arts'' André Benjamin Papineau Gallery
2004
Relieving artist price of Conseil des arts et de la culture de Laval
1st price ''Une époque en art'' Saint-Basile-le-Grand
1st price ''expo-concours arts visuels Roussillon'' St-Constant
Finalist at national contest of painting, Baie St-Paul
CONFERENCE
2008
Judge at paintinf festival of Mascouche
Creative activities, Guatémala
2003-2006
Creative activities, school St-Gilles, Laval
PUBLICATIONS
2007
Communic-action, La Prairie
Le Reflet, La Prairie
2006
Le Courrier Laval, avril et septembre
2005
La Presse, Mon toit, novembre
Guide touristique de la Vallée du Richelieu 2005-2006
2004
Le Courrier Laval
Les Versants du Mont-Bruno, St-Bruno
Magazin'art, été, no 64
Le Reflet, St-Constant
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Promécanic
Festival de peinture de Mascouche
Ville de Saint-Basile-le-Grand
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Canada, USA, Belgium
