Mathieu Rousseau

I started painting 15 years ago. I began by creating landscapes. They were my favourite subject because I was able to express and bring out the plenitude that I was seeing. I purely enjoyed taking inspiration from the daylight and my movements were instinctive and spontaneous.

Following a career change, I attended Université Laval to complete a certificate in visual arts. I liked the challenges given to us by our professors who always tried to push us a step further. Even today, I make links to some of the demands they imposed upon me, which goes to show that my mind is always working and trying to surpass itself.

In the past 5 years, I haven’t changed course and have remained true to my past dedication to landscapes, but I have modified my artistic approach. Continuity in my process has pushed me toward abstraction. This allows me to explore and work with the plastic process, its organization and the state of the material. The representation transforms into a mental landscape.

This is my painting routine: I organize my ideas and develop a concept in front of each painting. I see the canvas and, in my mind, each of the steps I must take until it is finished. Then I can “begin”. In my process, verticality reminds me that t...

My artistic path
I’ve loved drawing for as long as I can remember. Creating, building, developing and producing are activities that have always been a part of my daily life, at every age.
Having been attracted to art since I was a teenager, art and music classes were always part of my schedule. I took pleasure in completing the projects that my teachers would assign, making them my own while spending many hours on them in class and then refining them at home.
In my early 20s, I took up painting after being inspired by my mother, who also painted. Through reading, I discovered the great painters from history's greatest art movements, in no particular order. Painting offered me more artistic freedom and possibilities than ever before. At the beginning of 2000, I started participating in exhibitions and competitions, deciding to share my creations with others.
The feedback I received encouraged me to enrol in an art program at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. I loved being immersed in an artistic atmosphere full-time, and mixing with stimulating, creative, passionate and demanding people. The challenges my professors gave me helped me to develop my art and surpass myself.

Expositions solo
• SSDM Dolbeau-Mistassini 2016 - 2015
• Maison Banville St-Félicien 2016
• Bibliothèque Saguenay 2016
• Bibliothèque St-Félicien 2016
Expositions collectives
• Italie ( Cannes, Florence ) 2016
• France ( Paris, St-Jean-d'angély) 2016
• Québec St-Monique (Île du Repos) 2016
• Québec St-Prime 2016
• Espagne Almaden 2015
• États-Unis Dallas 2015
• Dolbeau-Mistassini ouverture salle SSDM 2005
• Dolbeau-Mistassini 9e et 10e Salon des métiers d'arts 2003 2004