An interview with artist Claude Le Blanc

Gallery MX will be presenting in August, a focus exhibition of the recent work of painter Claude Le Blanc. We sat down with the artist so you get to know the men behind these luminous boats floating on unknown horizons. 

Who is Claude Le Blanc and what do you do?

I am a painter. After working with different mediums, from traditional to digital ones, I always went back to painting because of its authenticity, its freedom and innovation.

What’s your artistic background?

I have a college diploma in visual arts. Through those years, I understood that my passion would be to create, and exception aside, I always made a living off my art. May it be as a retailer with the Après l’Eden stores or as a 3D illustrator and, as always, as a painter.

What are the main topics you deal with in your work?

I paint rowing boats for what they symbolize; change and the passing from one shore to the other.

It is also a matter of water! Why is it ubiquitous? Maybe it’s my part in the shadows… That is where I feel the most abstract and the more gestural. I swim in it!

What themes do you pursue?

The solitude that goes hand in hand with the passages of life. The paradox between the calm on the rowing boat and the chaos of the water.

What is your most meaningful moment of your career?

There are many of those moments, but the most important one of them would have to be my partnership with Gallery MX, which allowed me to reach the North American art market.

What’s your favorite artwork and why?

Without a doubt, the Jackson Pollock dripping; this artist created a revolutionary and personal technique.

What does your current workplace look like?

The rectory of a church in ruins. The silence and the magic of such a place gives me the calm I need to create.

How has your practice change through time?

To evolve, a painter must take roads that lead to other roads. To understand the secrets of an artwork was, for a long time, my motto. The promotion of paint in unknown areas is my ultimate goal.

What do you do in your spare time?

I like to leave my workshop and walk for hours in quiet zones; the roads in nature and the alleys in Montreal.

What food, drink, song, inspires you?

I like fish, cocktails who shake the soul; listening to the Doors, Murat and read Houellebecq.

Your  happy Place  ?

À 24 pouces d’une toile et dans les Everglades.

What is your dream project?

Create an unprecedented light in painting.

Name three of your favorite artists.

My color palette is fluorescent and the challenge lays in distinguishing those colors from the “street art” label to apply it to scenery. David Hockney is a master in this field. A key player is Peter Doig, for the intimist spirit of his remorse and the speed of his move. Nicolas De Staël’s dazzling palette for his abstract scenery. For a painter searching for unknown light, it is a difficult threshold to cross.

Quel est votre objectif professionnel ?

To die with a spatula in my hands.

Flow,  an exhibition by Claude Le Blanc, doors open Saturday, August 12th from 12 pm. to 4 pm.