Apostasie (Apostasy) Print

Bio and artistic statement Self-taught painter since 2009 Born on November 23, 1957 Successful aviation industry professional up until 2007 Montreal Arts Club registred ( .html ) In September 2007, Philippe Doucet's world turned upside down. His whole identity - his career, his family life, his financial security - everything - came crumbling down all around him. He spent the better part of the following year trying to understand what led him to such a radical upheaval. By the end of 2008, he had started painting. He had no formal background in art, but painting proved to be therapeutic - a daily activity that restored his sense of well-being. Ever since then, he has pursued this quest for his true self, by struggling to determine how individuals construct their identity through a mishmash of illusions that form a mental prison. His creative model is based on inner silence. His approach is simple: he paints "with his mind turned off." This approach involves learning how to look at oneself from within, taking a step back to realize that people everywhere invent roles for themselves - although, upon closer examination, the result is little more than a conglomeration of unsubstantiated concepts, convictions and conclusions, crystallized around a mental image. Doucet's creative approach is rooted in intuition and rejects any such preconceived identities. "When I succeed in casting off the role I think I play, when I stop referring to the past and fearing a future that robs me of the freshness of the moment, that's when the world becomes silent and I can create. This state of mind is in a vertical space, unfettered by the confines of time - a space that is simultaneously empty and brimming over with stillness. From this stability and serenity is born the intuitiveness of movement and texture, the choice of colour and the shape to be transformed."