Andre Paradis
Andre Paradis
Montreal, QC, Canada
About Andre Paradis
by: Josiah Gagosian | ArtVoice magazine, March 2010 Edition
In Quebec City in the winter of 1969 a fifteen-year-old boy stole away from his parents' house in the night and made his way to the new Grand Theatre. Catalan-born artist, Jordi Bonet was at work there on a massive three thousand square foot relief mural. He had only one arm and suffered from leukemia but in his relatively short life he was able to generate many important large-scale works in metal and concrete using innovative techniques and textures. As he labored there in the frigid weather that year, slathering the wall with concrete, the boy watched his every move. While others his age might have snuck out at night hoping to get into trouble, this boy was different. Bonet's dedication and energy inspired him to take up painting himself and so another significant Quebecois artist was born, Andre Paradis, an artist who developed a similar interest in texture, though he would use it to very different ends. His father was an amateur cabinetmaker, who helped to further encourage his son's artistic interest, by sharing his workshop with the newborn painter. Paradis' artistic education and growth would turn out to be an investigational process, which is still evident in his ongoing mixed media explorations of landscape.
Andre Paradis' landscapes are balanced textural renderings of mostly natural settings divested of their minutiae in order to amplify the effect of light and color. Instead of delicately rendered details like branches, blades of grass, or leafy shadows, Paradis uses vivid colors and various media from recycled glass to acrylic, copper, gold, and silver to convey the sentiment of a landscape. Much of his inspiration is drawn from the places he has traveled, particularly the Caribbean and Central America with their vibrant, tropical hues. Paintings with titles like Jungla and El Dorado conjure up images of colonial Latin America, a Latin America in which the land itself is gilded in the artist's adaptation. Having lived also in the South of France, Paradis infuses much of his work with the kind of light he experienced in the winters there, which he says has a very specific, indefinable quality. "I want to transmit something that has a more positive feeling than a dark feeling," he says, further emphasizing the significance of light in his work. The dark is just not something which appeals to Paradis; he prefers to combine elements of various landscapes he has seen in order to create something of his own, something that gleams with its own luminescence and brings to the viewer an experience that is Zen-like in its tranquility and transcendence.
As a self-taught painter, Paradis learned much of what he knows via process, experimentation with materials, and his own journeys, which included visits to museums and galleries around the world where he could view the art of those who had gone before him and form his own conclusions about them. He credits Marc Chagall and Wolf Kahn with inspiring his use of color and, although he has not yet traveled in Asia, he has demonstrated an affinity for Japanese woodcut artists whose minimalism and elegant use of line and composition are mirrored in his own sparsely detailed paintings. Other influences are more overt, as in Mondrian Mountain, whose mountain-like silhouette of gold quadrilaterals set against a background of intersecting perpendicular lines evokes the Dutch painter, Mondrian. The piece recalls both Mondrian's roots in representational and landscape painting, and his eventual break with those styles in his development of Neo-Plasticism. In Mica Red, an organic horizon of deep violet bisects the lower half of the painting, while a band of red swoops down from the upper left corner suggesting the outline of a hill, an orange glow suffusing both the sky and land. Other environmental features are implied by textural changes and subtle shifts in color. It is as if all the details of a Japanese woodcut have been stripped away leaving the miasmic framework on which another artist might normally place trees, architecture, birds, and people. Despite their simplicity, the paintings never feel incomplete; their focus has merely been shifted from an experience of literal objects and a specific place to an experience of light and color in an iconographic manifestation of landscape.
One of Paradis' lifelong dreams was to have a studio in Paris, and that was a goal he fulfilled 18 years ago while working as an environmental consultant, a job that paid the bills and allowed him to spend the rest of his time painting. His work as a consultant also played an important role in his artistic development as it introduced him to one of his primary and arguably most important media: recycled glass powder. A surplus of recycled glass presented him with a unique problem for which he found a unique solution. Paradis discovered the powdered glass could be used as an artistic medium, which wh
In Quebec City in the winter of 1969 a fifteen-year-old boy stole away from his parents' house in the night and made his way to the new Grand Theatre. Catalan-born artist, Jordi Bonet was at work there on a massive three thousand square foot relief mural. He had only one arm and suffered from leukemia but in his relatively short life he was able to generate many important large-scale works in metal and concrete using innovative techniques and textures. As he labored there in the frigid weather that year, slathering the wall with concrete, the boy watched his every move. While others his age might have snuck out at night hoping to get into trouble, this boy was different. Bonet's dedication and energy inspired him to take up painting himself and so another significant Quebecois artist was born, Andre Paradis, an artist who developed a similar interest in texture, though he would use it to very different ends. His father was an amateur cabinetmaker, who helped to further encourage his son's artistic interest, by sharing his workshop with the newborn painter. Paradis' artistic education and growth would turn out to be an investigational process, which is still evident in his ongoing mixed media explorations of landscape.
Andre Paradis' landscapes are balanced textural renderings of mostly natural settings divested of their minutiae in order to amplify the effect of light and color. Instead of delicately rendered details like branches, blades of grass, or leafy shadows, Paradis uses vivid colors and various media from recycled glass to acrylic, copper, gold, and silver to convey the sentiment of a landscape. Much of his inspiration is drawn from the places he has traveled, particularly the Caribbean and Central America with their vibrant, tropical hues. Paintings with titles like Jungla and El Dorado conjure up images of colonial Latin America, a Latin America in which the land itself is gilded in the artist's adaptation. Having lived also in the South of France, Paradis infuses much of his work with the kind of light he experienced in the winters there, which he says has a very specific, indefinable quality. "I want to transmit something that has a more positive feeling than a dark feeling," he says, further emphasizing the significance of light in his work. The dark is just not something which appeals to Paradis; he prefers to combine elements of various landscapes he has seen in order to create something of his own, something that gleams with its own luminescence and brings to the viewer an experience that is Zen-like in its tranquility and transcendence.
As a self-taught painter, Paradis learned much of what he knows via process, experimentation with materials, and his own journeys, which included visits to museums and galleries around the world where he could view the art of those who had gone before him and form his own conclusions about them. He credits Marc Chagall and Wolf Kahn with inspiring his use of color and, although he has not yet traveled in Asia, he has demonstrated an affinity for Japanese woodcut artists whose minimalism and elegant use of line and composition are mirrored in his own sparsely detailed paintings. Other influences are more overt, as in Mondrian Mountain, whose mountain-like silhouette of gold quadrilaterals set against a background of intersecting perpendicular lines evokes the Dutch painter, Mondrian. The piece recalls both Mondrian's roots in representational and landscape painting, and his eventual break with those styles in his development of Neo-Plasticism. In Mica Red, an organic horizon of deep violet bisects the lower half of the painting, while a band of red swoops down from the upper left corner suggesting the outline of a hill, an orange glow suffusing both the sky and land. Other environmental features are implied by textural changes and subtle shifts in color. It is as if all the details of a Japanese woodcut have been stripped away leaving the miasmic framework on which another artist might normally place trees, architecture, birds, and people. Despite their simplicity, the paintings never feel incomplete; their focus has merely been shifted from an experience of literal objects and a specific place to an experience of light and color in an iconographic manifestation of landscape.
One of Paradis' lifelong dreams was to have a studio in Paris, and that was a goal he fulfilled 18 years ago while working as an environmental consultant, a job that paid the bills and allowed him to spend the rest of his time painting. His work as a consultant also played an important role in his artistic development as it introduced him to one of his primary and arguably most important media: recycled glass powder. A surplus of recycled glass presented him with a unique problem for which he found a unique solution. Paradis discovered the powdered glass could be used as an artistic medium, which wh
Education
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 «Illuminated Landscapes» COEXIST Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011 The Quiet Life Gallery, Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
2010 Distillery Art Market 2010, Toronto, Canada
2010 «Couleur & Matière», Galerie du Passage St-Michel, Paris, France
2010 Salon International du Design Intérieur, Montréal, Canada
2010 «Paradis», Longstreth & Goldberg Gallery, Naples, Florida, USA
2009 «Salon des Refusés», Pool Art Fair, Art Basel Miami, Miami Beach
2009 «Residencies», The Quiet Life Gallery, Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
2009 «Dixit», Atypic, Montréal, QC, Canada
2009 «Small Works», La Romana Country Club, Dominican Republic
2008 «Cornucopia #2», Hrefna Jonsdottir Gallery, Lambertville, N J, USA
2008 «El Dorado», Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic
2007 «Cornucopia», Museo de Ciencia y Cultura, Costa Rica
2007 «Seaside» Cerulean’s, Watercolor, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
2006 «Reflection», ACA Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
2006 «Landscapes», Galerie d’Art International, Solana Beach, Calif., USA.
2005 «El Bruc» Can Serrat International Art Centre, El Bruc, Spain
2004 «Introductions», Kent Gallery, Key West, Florida, USA
2003 «Paradis», Maison Pierre DAURA, St-Cirq Lapopie, France
2003 «Nord-Sud», Galerie Espace France Art, Pertuis, France
2002 «Paradis’s Recent Paintings», The Hechavarria’s, Boston, USA
2002 «Kunstneren», Galleri Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
2002 «Paradis-Provence», Espace France-Art, Pertuis, France
2002 «Les Agapes», Maison de Champagne Roger BRUN, Ay, France
2001 «Silences», Marriott Long Wharf, Boston, USA
2000 «Entre chien et loup», Art-Designers, Boulogne, France
1997 «Lux #2», Le petit Luxembourg, Paris 75006, France
1996 «Abstraction picturale», Il Barone, Paris 75014, France
1996 «Lux», Le petit Luxembourg, Paris 75006, France
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Affordable Art Fair, New York City-Gallery Artêria
2011 Puzzle Art Project, Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan
2011 «Winter Selection», Russell Gallery, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
2010 Puzzle Art Project, Type Books Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2009 Longstreth & Goldberg Gallery, Naples, Florida, USA
2009 BECA Gallery, New Orleans, USA «12 x 12 x 122»
2008 Biosphère, Environment Museum, Montreal, Canada
2008 Open Gallery, Northport, Long Island, NY, USA
2007 École Internationale d’été de Percé, Canada
2007 Galerie d’Art International, Solana Beach, California, USA.
2007 The Seaside Institute Gallery, Santa Rosa, Florida
2007 Inspire Gallery, Chicago USA
2006 California Foundation of International Global Art, California, USA
2006 Festival International Montréal en Arts, Montréal, Canada
2006 The Julia & David White Artists Residency, Costa Rica
2005 Galerie Studio 261, Montréal, Canada
2005 Galerie Marie DEMANGE, Paris 4 ième, France
2004 DNA Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., USA
2004 The Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, Mass., USA
2004 Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal, Canada
2003 Northern California Arts, California, USA
2002 Japan Embassy in Seoul, Korea
2001 Espace France-Art, Pertuis, France
2001 Salon International des Arts Plastiques, Angoulême, France
2001 Artex-Tokyo 2001, Tokyo, Japan
2000 Tokyo International Forum Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997 Artex International Art Exchange, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1996 Artex International Art Exchange, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
ARTISTS RESIDENCY PROGRAMS AND AWARDS
2010 Residency grant, Fundacion Valparaiso, Almeria, Spain.
2010 Artist Residency, Peaked Hill Trust, Cape Cod, Mass., USA
2008 Residencia de artistas, Altos de Chavon, Republica Dominicana
2007 Artist Residency, The Seaside Institute, Santa Rosa, Florida
2006-2007 Artist Residency, The J & D White Artists Residency, Costa Rica
2005 Artist Residency, Can Serrat International Art Centre, El Bruc, Spain
2004 Artist Residency, Anthony Joseph House, Key West, Florida, USA
2004 Artist Residency, Peaked Hill Trust, Cape Cod, Mass., USA
2003 Creation grant and Artist Residency, Centre d’art contemporain Georges Pompidou, St-Cirq-Lapopie, France
AFFILIATIONS
Since 2002 President, Cité des Artistes, Montréal, QC, Canada
Since 2003 Member, Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels (RAAV)
Since 2001 Founding Member, Culture Montreal
Since 1998 Member,Federation of Canadian Artists, Professional
1996-2001 Member,Japan Contemporary Art Association
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Fundacion Centro Cultural Altos De Chavon, Republica Dominicana
Science & Culture Museum of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Cirque du Soleil Collection, World Headquarters, Montreal
Maison de Champagne Roger BRUN Collection, France
Conseil Général du Lot, France
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ArtVoices Magazine USA, «André Paradis’ and the Illuminated Landscape», March 2010
ICON
2011 «Illuminated Landscapes» COEXIST Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011 The Quiet Life Gallery, Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
2010 Distillery Art Market 2010, Toronto, Canada
2010 «Couleur & Matière», Galerie du Passage St-Michel, Paris, France
2010 Salon International du Design Intérieur, Montréal, Canada
2010 «Paradis», Longstreth & Goldberg Gallery, Naples, Florida, USA
2009 «Salon des Refusés», Pool Art Fair, Art Basel Miami, Miami Beach
2009 «Residencies», The Quiet Life Gallery, Lambertville, New Jersey, USA
2009 «Dixit», Atypic, Montréal, QC, Canada
2009 «Small Works», La Romana Country Club, Dominican Republic
2008 «Cornucopia #2», Hrefna Jonsdottir Gallery, Lambertville, N J, USA
2008 «El Dorado», Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic
2007 «Cornucopia», Museo de Ciencia y Cultura, Costa Rica
2007 «Seaside» Cerulean’s, Watercolor, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
2006 «Reflection», ACA Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
2006 «Landscapes», Galerie d’Art International, Solana Beach, Calif., USA.
2005 «El Bruc» Can Serrat International Art Centre, El Bruc, Spain
2004 «Introductions», Kent Gallery, Key West, Florida, USA
2003 «Paradis», Maison Pierre DAURA, St-Cirq Lapopie, France
2003 «Nord-Sud», Galerie Espace France Art, Pertuis, France
2002 «Paradis’s Recent Paintings», The Hechavarria’s, Boston, USA
2002 «Kunstneren», Galleri Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
2002 «Paradis-Provence», Espace France-Art, Pertuis, France
2002 «Les Agapes», Maison de Champagne Roger BRUN, Ay, France
2001 «Silences», Marriott Long Wharf, Boston, USA
2000 «Entre chien et loup», Art-Designers, Boulogne, France
1997 «Lux #2», Le petit Luxembourg, Paris 75006, France
1996 «Abstraction picturale», Il Barone, Paris 75014, France
1996 «Lux», Le petit Luxembourg, Paris 75006, France
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Affordable Art Fair, New York City-Gallery Artêria
2011 Puzzle Art Project, Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan
2011 «Winter Selection», Russell Gallery, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
2010 Puzzle Art Project, Type Books Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2009 Longstreth & Goldberg Gallery, Naples, Florida, USA
2009 BECA Gallery, New Orleans, USA «12 x 12 x 122»
2008 Biosphère, Environment Museum, Montreal, Canada
2008 Open Gallery, Northport, Long Island, NY, USA
2007 École Internationale d’été de Percé, Canada
2007 Galerie d’Art International, Solana Beach, California, USA.
2007 The Seaside Institute Gallery, Santa Rosa, Florida
2007 Inspire Gallery, Chicago USA
2006 California Foundation of International Global Art, California, USA
2006 Festival International Montréal en Arts, Montréal, Canada
2006 The Julia & David White Artists Residency, Costa Rica
2005 Galerie Studio 261, Montréal, Canada
2005 Galerie Marie DEMANGE, Paris 4 ième, France
2004 DNA Gallery, Provincetown, Mass., USA
2004 The Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, Mass., USA
2004 Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal, Canada
2003 Northern California Arts, California, USA
2002 Japan Embassy in Seoul, Korea
2001 Espace France-Art, Pertuis, France
2001 Salon International des Arts Plastiques, Angoulême, France
2001 Artex-Tokyo 2001, Tokyo, Japan
2000 Tokyo International Forum Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997 Artex International Art Exchange, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1996 Artex International Art Exchange, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
ARTISTS RESIDENCY PROGRAMS AND AWARDS
2010 Residency grant, Fundacion Valparaiso, Almeria, Spain.
2010 Artist Residency, Peaked Hill Trust, Cape Cod, Mass., USA
2008 Residencia de artistas, Altos de Chavon, Republica Dominicana
2007 Artist Residency, The Seaside Institute, Santa Rosa, Florida
2006-2007 Artist Residency, The J & D White Artists Residency, Costa Rica
2005 Artist Residency, Can Serrat International Art Centre, El Bruc, Spain
2004 Artist Residency, Anthony Joseph House, Key West, Florida, USA
2004 Artist Residency, Peaked Hill Trust, Cape Cod, Mass., USA
2003 Creation grant and Artist Residency, Centre d’art contemporain Georges Pompidou, St-Cirq-Lapopie, France
AFFILIATIONS
Since 2002 President, Cité des Artistes, Montréal, QC, Canada
Since 2003 Member, Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels (RAAV)
Since 2001 Founding Member, Culture Montreal
Since 1998 Member,Federation of Canadian Artists, Professional
1996-2001 Member,Japan Contemporary Art Association
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Fundacion Centro Cultural Altos De Chavon, Republica Dominicana
Science & Culture Museum of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
Cirque du Soleil Collection, World Headquarters, Montreal
Maison de Champagne Roger BRUN Collection, France
Conseil Général du Lot, France
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ArtVoices Magazine USA, «André Paradis’ and the Illuminated Landscape», March 2010
ICON
Events
April 5th 2011 «Illuminated landscapes», COEXIST Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Exhibitions
Future Shows:
May 5 - 8, 2011«», Affordable Art Fair, New York City
May 5 - 8, 2011«», Affordable Art Fair, New York City
